Terming the allegations of the Congress party on Rafale deal as baseless, Union Minister for Law , Justice, Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said that the Rafale aircraft had been purchased at 9 per cent lesser price than that of the UPA government’s deal.
Addressing a press conference here, Prasad said that the Rafale aircraft issue had cropped up as a friend of Rahul Gandhi and Robert Vadra did not get any contract in the deal.
“No contract of Rs 30,000 crore has been given to any private player in the Rafale deal and but it is only of Rs 850 crore. Based on the deal, the company having land in Nagpur will establish a manufacturing unit for spare parts of Rafale aircraft. The remaining work would be undertaken by another private player”, he said. He further said that the UPA Government had delayed the deal for a decade. Raising allegations, Prasad said that without ‘dakshina’ (dole) , the Congress party and Gandhi family do not work and Rahul Gandhi is playing with the security of the country, he said.
Prasad said NDA government has worked to combat Naxalism which was in 150 districts in the country and now getting confined to about 70 to 80 districts.
Reacting to the reported statement of senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prasad said “it is total disrespect shown to the Hindu Gods and Goddesses.”
“The attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the name of ‘Shivling’ would not be tolerated. On one hand, Rahul Gandhi is offering prayers at ‘Mahakaal’ temple at Ujjain and on other, one of the Congress leaders is showing disregard towards Gods”.
On Ram temple and statements by BJP leaders, he said, issue of Ram Temple construction should not be linked with polls. There are many aspirations for it and at present the issue is before the Supreme Court , he said.