india

Updated: Jan 08, 2019 00:09 IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Monday Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s campaign on the Rafale jet purchase was based on “pure commercial interest”, alleging that middlemen believed to be involved in the AgustaWestland case wanted Eurofighter on board for the deal that has become contentious.

The BJP’s fresh attack came on the day the Congress moved a privilege motion against defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman for what it said was “misleading” the Lok Sabha during a debate on the issue on Friday.

The Congress president, meanwhile reiterated his challenge to Prime Minister Narnendra Modi for a debate on the deal and accused Sitharaman of “lying” over the contracts given to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

“A media house has come up with documents which reveal that the same middlemen who were pushing for the case for AgustaWestland, one of them being under arrest, were also pushing the case for Eurofighter...,” said Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, citing a report.

He added that the Congress, which alleges wrongdoing in the deal, has unleashed an “entire campaign of canard”.

In December, Christian Michel, a 54-year-old British national believed to be one of the middlemen in the AgustaWestland chopper deal, was extradited from Dubai.

He is being investigated over charges of organising bribes for Indian politicians and bureaucrats to push for the Rs 3,600-crore agreement in the previous United Progressive Alliance regime, which cancelled the contract in 2014. Several companies including those from the US, Russia and Sweden, were also in contention before the deal for fighter jets to be procured the Indian Air Force went in favour of French aircraft major Dassault, which makes the Rafale plane.

The papers seized from Italian middleman Guido Haschke during a raid reveal that he and Christian Michel worked on a plan to place Rafale’s prime competitor in the “win zone”, Prasad, the Union law minister, said.

Separately, Sitharaman rejected “doubts” raised by the Congress party on her statement on HAL as “incorrect and misleading” and added that contracts worth Rs 26,570 crore have been signed by the defence PSU between 2014-18 and orders amounting to Rs 73,000 crore are in pipeline, which total about Rs 1 lakh crore.

She accused Rahul Gandhi of raising “incorrect and misleading” doubts regarding her statement in Parliament. Sitharaman’s statement in Lok Sabha came amid a political furore over her earlier statement in the House regarding orders placed with state-run HAL, with Congress president Gandhi alleging she had “lied” that government orders worth Rs 1 lakh crore were provided to the company.

A privilege motion against Sitharaman was moved by Congress’s KC Venugopal. It is being considered by the Speaker.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Gandhi alleged that the government gave Rs 20,000 crore to France’s Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale jets, even though it has not supplied a single aircraft. “But why have HAL’s dues of Rs 15,700 crore not been cleared?” Gandhi asked.

He alleged that it was “necessary” for government to “destroy HAL because with a strong HAL, you simply cannot give the contract to anybody else”.

(With agency inputs)