New Delhi, October 4: Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Subhash Bhamre today hit out at the Congress while responding to the allegations levelled by the opposition party against the Narendra Modi government over the Rafale deal. While speaking to media, Bhamre said that all the things could not be revealed in public. The MoS Defence also reiterated that the price of Rafale jets acquired by the Modi government is less than that of the price negotiated by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the proposed deal.

Bhamre said, “Price has been shared not only once but many times. The basic price of Rafale is less than that of UPA. If all things are told before media about Rafale then our enemies from across the border will no longer need to field their secret agencies.” The MoS Defence also alleged the UPA government for its inaction in reducing the shortage of fighter jet squadrons of the Indian Air Force (IAF) during its regime. He further added, If India has to face both the fronts then total 42 fighter aircraft squadrons are needed and currently we have 33 aircraft squadrons. He said, "Hence, these operational criticalities have been there since 2001, Congress did nothing since 2001 to 2013."

The Congress has increased its attack on the central government after the former French President Francois Hollande alleged that the NDA government proposed the name of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence Limited for the offset contract worth Rs 30,000 crore. However, the Modi government and even Dassault Aviation refuted the charges. In the past few months, the Rafale deal controversy has heated up as the opposition targeted the central government over the irregularities in the pricing of the aircraft. In September 2016, the Modi government signed a deal with the French government to procure 36 Rafale jets in ‘ready to fly’ condition.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 04, 2018 10:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).