The CPI today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "come clean" on the Rafale deal and explain why a private firm was selected as an offset partner for a French aerospace firm instead of the state-run HAL.
Insisting that Modi was "instrumental" in clinching the deal, CPI National Secretary D Raja said he owed an explanation and his 'silence' led to strong apprehensions that the government was hiding something.
Modi had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after holding talks with then French president Francois Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris.
"The Prime Minister has to talk. He was directly involved in the deal. The fundamental question is why HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) was left out and they chose Reliance Defence," Raja told PTI.
These were genuine questions to which people seek an answer, he said, adding Modi should respond, rather than Finance Minister Arun Jaitley or Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
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"Instead of the Finance Minister or Defence Minister trying to defend the government, the Prime Minister has to come clean and explain to the people," he said.
"The way the Prime Minister is keeping silent is leading to strong apprehensions that the government is hiding something," he said, and reiterated the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the matter.
Congress has accused the government of choosing Reliance Defence over HAL to benefit the private firm though it did not have any experience in the aerospace sector.
Hollande's reported comments that New Delhi had proposed Reliance Defence as the Indian partner for the contract has escalated into a major political row, even as the French government said it had no say in the choice of the Indian industrial partner for the multi-billion dollar deal.
However, Dassault Aviation refuted Hollande's claims and said that it was their decision to partner with Reliance.
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