Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday continued to trade charges against each other over their claims pertaining to work orders to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) against the backdrop of Rafale fighter jet deal.
While Rahul said the BJP-led NDA Government is “undermining” HAL and pushing it to a financial crisis, Sitharaman, both inside and outside Parliament, rejected the “doubts” raised by the Congress on her statement on the PSU contracts terming it as “incorrect and misleading”.
In a brief statement in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said she has received confirmation that contracts amounting to more than Rs 26,000 crore have already been signed between 2014 and 2018. She also said that other projects amounting to Rs 73,000 crore are in the pipeline.
Her clarification came amid a political furore over her statement in the House regarding orders placed with HAL, with Rahul alleging that she had “lied” that the Government orders worth Rs 1 lakh crore were provided to the company. Congress MP KC Venugopal said his party has moved a breach of privilege against the Defence Minister for “misleading the House”.
Both national parties have been involved in war of words after a media report claimed that HAL, grappling with low finances, was forced to borrow Rs 1,000 crore to pay salaries to its employees, for the first time in years. There was another report that claimed “not a single rupee of the said Rs 1 lakh crore has come to HAL, since not a single order, as claimed, has been signed till now”.
Procurement order specifically mentions 83 Tejas aircraft worth Rs 50,000 crore, 200 helicopters worth Rs 20,000 crore, 19 dornier aircraft worth Rs 3,400 crore, other helicopters worth Rs 15,000 crore and aero-engine worth Rs 8,400 crore. Orders worth Rs 73,000 crore are in the pipeline, she noted, adding all of them put together amount to Rs 1 lakh crore, she said.
“Above documents clearly confirm correctness of my statement and the doubts raised in this regard are incorrect and misleading,” the Minister said.
Addressing reporters outside Parliament, Rahul said, “The strategy of the Government is to weaken HAL, do not give it money and destroy India’s strategic capability and give a gift to Anil Ambani.” He further alleged that the Government gave Rs 20,000 crore to France’s Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale jets, even though it has not supplied a single aircraft. “But why have HAL’s dues of Rs 15,700 crore not been cleared?” he asked.
Rahul alleged that it was “necessary” for the Government to “destroy HAL because with a strong HAL, you simply cannot give the contract to anybody else”. The Government as well as Ambani has rejected all such allegations.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge quoted HAL CMD R Madhavan to support his party’s contention that the company was struggling financially and demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe into the matter. He claimed that Sitharaman had sought to correct her statement and said wrong facts should not be put before the House.
Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal questioned if Kharge would authenticate the report he was quoting, while some other BJP leaders took a jibe at the party while referring to a Defence dealer, who is wanted in criminal cases.