DefMin doing flip-flop on Rafale deal, says Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi once again hit out at defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman of doing a “flip-flop” on the secrecy clause in Rafael jet deal. “Our defence minister said she would, but now she won’t. She flip flops between ‘it’s-not-a-secret’ & “it’s-a-BIG-secret”. The PM squirms when asked about the price of Rafale and refuses to look me in the eye. Sure smells like a scam. #RAFAL-Escam (sic),” he tweeted. Mr Gandhi had attacked the government over the Rafale jet deal with Fra-
nce during the no-trust motion in parliament.

Mr Gandhi said that French president had conveyed to him that there was no problem in sharing details relating to the Rafale, contrary to what the government has been saying. “I personally met the French president and asked him if there is such a pact between the French and Indian governments. The French president told me that there is no such pact between the French and Indian governments,” Mr Gandhi had said.

Mr Modi had called these charges as “distortion of truth”. The French government issued a statement, saying a security agreement it concluded with India in 2008 legally binds the two countries to protect the classified information relating to operational capabilities of defence equipment. It did not clarify if the provisions restrict India from disclosing the price.