New Delhi, July 28: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that the due to the Rafale fighter jet deal, Indian taxpayers will have to pay the "Prime Minister's friend's joint venture Rs 1 lakh crore over five decades to maintain the aircraft. Taking a dig, he said that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will as usual hold a press conference to deny this charge.

"Over the next 50 years, Indian taxpayers will pay Mr 56's (Modi) friend's JV, (Rs) 100,000 crore to maintain 36 #RafaleScam jets, India is buying," Gandhi tweeted.

"Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) will address a press conference to deny this, as usual. But the truth is in the presentation I'm attaching," he said, tagging along with a Reliance Infrastructure Investors Presentation.

It said that "Reliance Defence Limited has secured the offset contract from Dassault Aviation for Rs 30,000 crore and a consequent ‘Lifecycle opportunity' is estimated at Rs 1 lakh crore over 50 years."

The Congress on Friday accused Sitharaman of "lying" on Reliance Defence Limited's offset contract", and said it didn't have experience in manufacturing fighter jets.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 28, 2018 05:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).