Accusing Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of lying to Parliament about procurement orders worth Rs. 1 lakh crore for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited or HAL, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday demanded the defence minister to place documents of government orders before Parliament or submit her resignation.
“When you tell one lie, you need to keep spinning out more lies, to cover up the first one. In her eagerness to defend the PM’s Rafale lie, the RM lied to Parliament. Tomorrow, RM must place before Parliament documents showing 1 Lakh crore of Govt orders to HAL. Or resign, ” he posted on Twitter.
When you tell one lie, you need to keep spinning out more lies, to cover up the first one.
In her eagerness to defend the PM’s Rafale lie, the RM lied to Parliament.
Tomorrow, RM must place before Parliament documents showing 1 Lakh crore of Govt orders to HAL.
Or resign. pic.twitter.com/dYafyklH9o
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 6, 2019
His allegations were based on a report filed by Times of India, that claims that claimed HAL had been forced to borrow money to pay its employees’ salaries as the company is runny low on finances.
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Responding to the Congress’ allegations of corruption in the procurement deal of 36 Rafale fighter jets, Sitharaman on Friday, said the government has given extensive contracts to HAL. “The Congress is shedding crocodile tears for HAL. The Congress government gave 53 waivers to HAL… We have given contracts worth Rs. 1 lakh crore,” she said.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s fresh allegation, Defence Minister posted the full report saying the Congress president is misleading the nation.
Dear Shri @RahulGandhi , looks like you really need to start from ABCs.
Someone like you who is hellbent on misleading the public will quote an article even before reading it. https://t.co/D6osVZfDU9
— NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 6, 2019
Sharing the HAL’s contracts documents, she asked if Rahul Gandhi would apologise to the country from the floor of the house and resign.
It’s a shame that the president of @INCIndia is spreading lies nd
misleading the country.HAL has signed contracts worth 26570.8Cr (Between 2014 & 2018) nd contracts worth 73000Cr are in the pipeline.Will @RahulGandhi apologise to the country from the floor of the house nd resign? pic.twitter.com/PRWEMFUjml— NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 6, 2019
Currently, HAL is working on repeat orders for Su-30s, Tejas Mk-1, Advanced Light Helicopters, Light Combat Helicopters and the Mirage 2000 upgrade.