Modi spreading misinformation on Rafale; NDA delayed procurement of jets by four years: AK Antony

Former Union Defence Minister AK Antony on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for deliberately spreading “misinformation” on the delay in procurement of fighter jets by the previous government, stating at a press conference that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had delayed the procurement of fighter jets by four years in 2000.

“The Prime Minister of India is touring the country and spreading misinformation. He is spreading the misinformation and day before yesterday he has gone to the extent of saying that Congress compromised national security for commission; he is referring to the Rafale deal,” said the senior Congress leader.

“He accused that the Congress delayed the Rafale deal for four years to get commission,” he added.

Going on to rebut the allegations, Antony cited the report by Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) which has noted that procurement of fighter jets had been delayed by four years by the previous NDA government.

“In fact, in the CAG report says Indian Air Force initiated a proposal in the year 2000 when NDA was in Government to procure 126 aircrafts -MMRCA on single tender basis,” he said.

“Page number 112 of the C&AG report says that four years were spent on deciding whether to procure the aircraft on single source basis or through competitive tendering,” highlighted Antony.

“So, four years were wasted by the NDA Government from 2000 to 2004 to take a decision whether single vendor or multi-tender,” he added.

The former defence minister said that it was the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which after coming to power in 2004, sped up the entire process.

“They were not able to take a decision but when UPA came, we issued RFP for procuring 126 MMRCA on multi-vendor process and stated on Page 113 of the C&AG report,” said Antony.

“Page 121 of the C&AG report states that in January 2012, during our time, Rafale was selected as L-1, that is reported on Page 121 in the CAG report,” he pointed out.

Antony went on to highlight that after the vendor was finalised by the UPA government in 2012, it were senior BJP MPs who had raised objections to the selection process, prompting the government at the time to investigate those concerns.

Antony added, “As Defence Minister, can I throw these complaints to the waste paper basket and allow the Ministry and Air Force to complete the process and send it to the Cabinet Committee on Security.”