Page 9 - 31JAN2020E4

Getting deeper into

submarine deal

fter targeting the previous Congress alleges centre flouting mandatory defence procurement pro-
Modi government over the cedure and the views of an expert panel
multi-billion Rafale fighter rules to favour Adani Defence, to favour another corporate Adani De-
jet deal, the Congress has writes amit agnihotri fence, owned by businessman Gautam
A now again trained its guns Adani.
on the centre accusing it of indulging Before May 2019 national elections,
in crony capitalism and compromising previous United Progressive Alliance former Congress chief Rahul Gan-
with national security in the 45,000 government and two that Reliance dhi ran a sustained campaign alleg-
crore submarine deal. Defence, owned by businessman Anil ing corruption in the Rafale jet deal to
The 36 Rafale jets to be supplied Ambani, became the offset partner target PM Modi. The Congress had even
to India are being manufactured by despite having no experience in mak- promised to probe the deal through a
French company Dassault Aviation ing aircraft and replaced public sector joint parliamentary committee (JPC)
while Indian private player Reliance Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. if the party was voted to power. The
Defence is the offset partner in the In contrast, the six conventional aggressive stance in the Congress
60,000 crore deal. The Congress plank submarines are to be built in the coun- camp was based on an assessment that
was based on two points, one that the try through a public-private partner- the alleged scam in the Rafale jet deal
Modi government’s deal was cost- ship. The Congress has alleged that the had gathered sufficient mass among
lier than the price negotiated by the Prime Minister was about to bypass the the electorate to bring down the Modi