New Delhi, January 15: The Congress on Tuesday launched a fresh salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale Deal. The grand old while referring to a report published in the USA-based site navytimes.com, raised questions over the deal by comparing it with the amount of money spent by France to upgrade its 28 Rafale Jets. The Congress took to Twitter to slam the Prime Minister. The party tweeted, “India is paying Euro 7.8 billion for 36 Rafale aircraft. France is paying Euro 2 billion for 28 upgraded Rafale aircraft. Can the person with Entire Political Science degree do the math? #ChowkidarchorHai” Rafale Deal: CAG Report on Pricing Not Examined by PAC, Modi Govt Tells Supreme Court; Requests to Correct Verdict.

The Navy Times reported that The French government on Monday signed a euro 2 billion contract with Dassault Aviation for 28 Rafale aircraft. According to the report, the 28 aircraft will include some F4 functionalities and be delivered to the French air force from 2023. The Rafale F4 will feature novel connectivity solutions to improve the aircraft’s effectiveness in network-centric warfare. Full Text of Rafale Deal Verdict by Supreme Court.

Initially, the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government proposed a deal of USD 12 billion which amounts to Rs 78,000 crore (approx.) for acquiring 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), Rafale Fighter jets. Out of these 126 jets, 18 were to be procured in ‘ready to fly’ condition and rest 108 fighter jets were to be produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Rafale Deal Verdict: BJP’s Anurag Thakur Moves Privilege Motion Against Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha.

As the UPA failed to conclude the deal before the 2014 elections, the Modi government after coming to power scrapped the old deal. The government signed a new contract in 2016, worth Rs 59,000 crore to acquire 36 jets in ready to fly condition. The Congress is also raising questions on the offset contract worth Rs 30,000 crore given to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Naval and Engineering Limited instead of government-owned HAL.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 15, 2019 05:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).