Creators of falsehood in Rafale issue, have hurt India’s larger security interest of the country, alleges Jaitely

 

 

New Delhi, December 14: After the Supreme Court’s positive decision regarding the celebrated Rafale deal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely and Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman held a press conference in the national capital today , clearing the government’s viewpoint in relation. “Those who created and manufactured this falsehood have hurt India’s larger security interest of the country. They must realise this”, said Jaitely pointing to the Congress party.

 

“There in fact is a question to be answered that after shortlisting the this purchase, both in terms of quality and cost, why was it virtually stopped if not abandoned in year 2012. Why was national security and the needs of the airforce compromised with.”, asserted Finance Minister Arun Jaitely.

 

Highlighting the security needs of the nation, Jaitely continued to say, “The disrupters have lost on all counts. The need for these aircrafts was acute and necessary. The airforce needed it. There was no price negotiation committee, no contract negotiation committee, no defence acquisition council, no cabinet committee on security as claimed by the opposition party. There was no way a fiction going on in this deal. The first statement made in 2015 in relation to this case was finalising the deal with better terms and conditions as compared to the year 2012. The contract negotiation committee further head 74 meeting for the appropriate procedures. All the process in relation to the deal were legal. The Court today agreed to this.”, he added.

 

“This particular deal turned into a political issue when the people having conflicted interests began to comment on this. The Government was continuously asserting that we have nothing to hide Whatever was said outside the parliamentary boundaries was all false as the pricing policy was already made clear to the parliament.”

 

 

“It was also claimed in the case that the Government is trying to benefit a certain group of businesses. The commitment regarding the off set purchase is not in th hands sof the Government. The original manufacturer, Dassault Aviation had the right to choose the purchaser. Rafale deal has secured both the security interest and the commercial interest of India.”

 

“If honest deals in the interest of national and commercial security are brought under a cloud, our civil servants and officials of our forces in future will think a lot before going with such exercises in the national interest.”

 

Meanwhile Nirmala Sitharaman, the defence minister quoted that Supreme court having gone through each and every one of these aspects which are being questioned, the decision making ability, the pricing policy and the on offset partner has clearly given recent why that they don’t hold the writ petition any more.

 

The supreme Court has stated that, “ We have examined closely the price details and comparison o the prices of the basic aircraft along with the escalation cost as under the original RFP as under the IGA. We have also gone through the explanatory notes on the costing item wise”

 

“We say no more the material has to be kept in a confidential domain. We do not find any substantial material on record to show that this is the case of commercial favouritism to any party by the Indian Government. In this process the role of the Government is not envisaged and thus mere press interviews or the suggestions cannot form the basis for judicial decision of the court, especially when there is a categorical denial of the statements made in the press by both the sides. ”, highlighted Sitharaman from the Court’s verdict.