New Delhi, January 6: Intensifying his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government over Rafale deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman of lying to the Parliament. In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi asked Nirmala Sitharaman to prove her claim that the Modi government has given Rs 1 lakh crore worth of orders to defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), or resign.

"When you tell one lie, you need to keep spinning out more lies to cover up the first one. In her eagerness to defend the PM's Rafale lie, the RM (Defence Minister) lied to the Parliament. Tomorrow (Monday), RM (Sitharaman) must place before Parliament documents showing Rs 1 lakh crore of government orders to HAL. Or resign," Gandhi tweeted, tagging a media report that said, "no actual order has been placed".

Gandhi has been targeting the Modi government over the Rafale deal with France and asking why a 70-year-old HAL was ignored for manufacturing the fighter jet. Defending the Rafale deal in Lok Sabha, which the Congress believes is a scam, Sitharaman on Friday accused the Congress of shedding crocodile tears for HAL. "Congress government gave 53 waivers to HAL while we have given contracts worth Rs 1 lakh crore," she said.

While some of the orders have been cleared by Defence Acquisition Council, no actual order has been placed yet, senior HAL management officials told TOI. Not a single rupee has been released to the company, they added. The cash-strapped HAL was forced to borrow close to Rs 1,000 crore to pay salaries as the Indian Air Force (IAF), its largest customer, had not cleared its dues.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 06, 2019 03:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).