Rafale deal: Taxpayers will pay Rs 1 lakh crore, says Rahul

IANS Saturday, 28 July 2018 06:00:12 PM

New Delhi : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that the due to the Rafale fighter jet deal, Indian taxpayers will have to pay the "Prime Minister's friend's joint venture Rs 1 lakh crore over five decades to maintain the aircraft.

Taking a dig, he said that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will as usual hold a press conference to deny this charge.

"Over the next 50 years, Indian taxpayers will pay Mr 56's (Modi) friend's JV, (Rs) 100,000 crore to maintain 36 #RafaleScam jets, India is buying," Gandhi tweeted.

"Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) will address a press conference to deny this, as usual. But the truth is in the presentation I'm attaching," he said, tagging along a Reliance Infrastructure Investors Presentation.

It said that "Reliance Defence Limited has secured the offset contract from Dassault Aviation for Rs 30,000 crore and a consequent ‘Lifecycle opportunity' is estimated at Rs 1 lakh crore over 50 years."

The Congress on Friday accused Sitharaman of "lying" on Reliance Defence Limited's offset contract", and said it didn't have experience in manufacturing fighter jets.