All India Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev today termed the Rafale deal as the "biggest scam in the history of India" and described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its "principle agent".
Modi has looted the nation and an industrialist close to him has pocketed the loot, alleged Dev who is campaigning against the deal throughout the country.
"The Rafale deal is a copy book case of squandering national interests, causing loss to public exchequer and promoting the culture of crony capitalism at the cost of Public Sector Undertaking (PSU)," Dev, also an MP, claimed in a press conference here.
She alleged that the Rafale deal as "the biggest scam in the history of India" and "Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its principle agent".
The Congress has repeatedly alleged a "scam" in the purchase of Rafale fighter jets claiming the cost per aircraft in 2012 during the UPA regime was agreed at Rs 526.10 crore while the one signed by the Modi government costs Euro 7.5 billion (Rs 1,670.70 crore per aircraft).
At that time the aircraft would have been manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, a PSU, but now the defence offset contract went to a private company with zero experience of manufacturing fighter aircrafts, the party claimed.
"While the PM and the defence minister refused to divulge the inflated price of 36 Rafale aircrafts claiming secrecy clause, the agreement between India and France has no such clause on non disclosure of commercial purchase," she claimed.
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