Congress to hold protest over Rafale deal

Mumbai: The Opposition in Maharashtra has upped the ante in terms of its attacks on the government over the Rafale deal. The Congress has planned a morcha on September 27 from Mahalakshmi Race Course to August Kranti Maidan while Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar has demanded a clarification from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter.

About the morcha, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said, “The party will hold a march of workers and leaders from Mahalak-shmi to August Kranti Maidan. We want to make people aware about the Rafale deal and the scam. We will expose BJP to the core.” Congress leaders from Maharashtra will join the march.

Slamming Mr Modi over the controversial deal, Mr Ambedkar said, “One Rafale plane cost Rs 712 crore when the Congress government was in power. It rose to Rs 1,600  crore when Mr Modi signed the deal. How was there such a huge jump? We want Mr Modi to speak on this.”

Mr Ambedkar alleged that the cost of readying these planes would be nearly Rs 120,000 crore. “The defence budget of India is almost Rs 2.5 lakh crore. Out of that, Rs 1 lakh crore will go to Reliance only. This  will damage the defence budget.”