Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the Rafale jet fighter deal is “not worth the paper it is printed on” as it does not include the dissent note by the expert negotiating team.
At a press conference called hours after the federal auditor tabled the performance audit report on capital acquisition of the Indian Air Force in the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition Leader said he does not agree with the findings of the report. Its conclusion that the deal for 36 Rafale jets, by the BJP-led NDA government through an inter-governmental agreement (IGA), is 2.86 per cent cheaper than an earlier deal for 126 jets, “proves that the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the Finance Minister lied to Parliament when they said the price difference was 9-20 per cent”.
Fresh revelations
Quoting fresh revelations in The Hindu on Wednesday, based on the notings by three domain experts who were part of the Indian Negotiating Team (INT), which pointed out that the new deal worked out by the BJP through the IGA was “not on better terms” than the deal being negotiated by the previous UPA government, Gandhi said the Centre’s twin rationale for negotiating a fresh deal has been “totally demolished”.
