Congress president Rahul Gandhi in various public meetings has quoted different prices for Rafale aircraft during UPA government. (Photo: Getty Images)

The cost of Rafale deal has become one of the most debated topics ever since the Congress used it to target the NDA regime. But the big question is, what was the actual price of each Rafale aircraft during the UPA regime?

Even Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who on numerous occasions quoted different prices, is visibly oblivious to the actual cost of the fighter plane under the UPA government.

In the past five months, the Congress president in various public meetings has quoted four different prices for Rafale aircraft during UPA government.

While the Congress party is trying to corner Narendra Modi government over the Rafale aircraft deal by calling it the biggest scam in the last four years, Rahul's wide swing over the prices comes as an embarrassment for the Grand Old Party.

To throw light on the inconsistency and twisting of facts, India Today's Fact Check team has tracked Rahul Gandhi's speeches from April 2018.

Rahul compared the prices of the Rafale aircraft for the first time on April 29 at Jan Akrosh Rally in New Delhi. The Gandhi scion made the comparison in an attempt to show how the price of each aircraft escalated under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government.

"When Manmohan Singh was prime minister each Rafale aircraft would cost Rs 700 crore," said Rahul Gandhi.

"But Narendra Modi went to France and the price of each aircraft became Rs 1,500 crore.It just becomes double right away," he added.

Rahul went on to reiterate the same figures for the next two months. On May 3, during a rally in Karnataka's Bidar, Rahul mentioned the same prices.

In the above video (between 35:25 to 36:50), Rahul Gandhi can be seen saying, "During UP the price of a Rafale aircraft was Rs 700 crore, Modiji changed it to Rs 1,500 crore per aircraft.

On July 20, in his landmark speech during the no confidence motion against Modi government in Lok Sabha, he attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Rafale deal.

Here, for the first time he announced that during the UPA rule, the cost of each Rafale plane was Rs 520 crore and after Modi's visit to France it shot up to Rs 1,600 crore.

The UPA price scaled down from Rs 700 crore to Rs 520 crore and NDA price scaled up by Rs 100 crore.

July 20, Rahul Gandhi in Parliament -No confidence motion speech in Lok Sabha.

In less than three weeks from his speech in the Parliament, Rahul Gandhi in a public rally in Raipur reminded the people about the speech and quoted a different figure for each Rafale aircraft.

This time his cost for each Rafale aircraft during the UPA rule increased by Rs 20 crore, from Rs 520 crore to Rs 540 crore.

The most amazing flip-flop over Rafale prices came from the Congress president on August 11. Within just two minutes he quoted two different prices - Rs 520 crore and Rs 540 for each aircraft.

First instance



Second instance

But before you settle between Rs 520 crore and Rs 540 crore, Gandhi came out with another new figure for Rafale aircraft. This time it is Rs 526 crore for each aircraft. In both the rallies - in Bidar and Hyderabad - he quoted the same figure.

On August 13, Rahul Gandhi while speaking at a rally in Hyderabad said, "I asked him (PM Modi) in Parliament, Modiji how did the price of Rafale aircraft escalate from Rs 526 crore to Rs 1,600 crore. But Modi ji did not reply."

Rahul Gandhi speaking in Hyderabad on August 13 in the below video. He quoted the same figure in Bidar on the same day.

Interestingly, five months ago in Karnataka's Bidar he said that each Rafale aircraft was priced at Rs 700 crore during the UPA rule. Months later, Rahul quoted figures that were nearly Rs 200 crore less.

Hope the circle comes to a full and we get the actual price of each Rafale aircraft during the UPA government before Rahul Gandhi decides otherwise.



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