Rafale deal: Congress fires fresh salvo at Narendra Modi government

New Delhi, May 24: Congress today kept up its attack on the Narendra Modi government over the Rafale deal with France and questioned why the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd was kept out of the agreement for the purchase of the fighter jets. Targeting the NDA dispensation as it completes its first year in office, Congress leader and former Union Minister Anand Sharma said that as per the earlier arrangement, HAL was to manufacture 108 jets through transfer of technology from the French company.Then why was HAL kept out of the government-to-government agreement despite the fact that the state-owned company has assembly lines in view of its old collaboration with France on the Mirage deal?” Sharma asked at an AICC briefing. Further looking to corner the ruling BJP, the senior Congress spokesman said he wanted to know which private sector firm had been brought in and whether it was in the national interest to keep HAL out of the deal.