Rafale debate: Rahul cites 3 instances of Cong honesty in Jaitley's reply

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a scathing attack at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for telling the Parliament on Thursday that the previous Congress-led government had declined, on 15 occassions, to disclose defence purchases details.

Gandhi pulled out three instances where the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had disclosed the purchase details of heavyweight buys like the Sukhoi and Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft.

"You said the UPA never released prices of defence purchases. To nail your lie, here are 3 parliamentary replies by the UPA with full transparency on pricing," the Congress president tweeted, making it clear that he can not be daunted from the campaign demanding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government come clean on the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale deal.

"Now do ask our Raksha Mantri to tell India how much each RAFALE jet cost," Rahul added.

The Congress has been hinting that the government's adamant denial to release the figures is an indicator that there is "something fishy."

The party also alleges that India is paying more for the multi-role jets to France's Dassault than what had originally been agreed between the company and the Congress-led UPA government.

Rahul again started his Friday's tweet with 'Dear Jaitlie.' 

This is the second time he intentionally punned on the finance minister name, the first time in December when the matter was taken to Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu by the BJP for deliberately twisting the name to ridicule him.

Congress began attacking the NDA government over the Rafale deal after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman backed out from her earlier promise to share the financial details of the transaction, informing the Parliament that it is "classified information."

Jaitley was supporting Sitharaman on this when he said that when the UPA was in power, former defence ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony had on 15 occassions denied to give out sensitive information as it would be against national security.

He also advised Rahul to learn "lessons on national security" from Pranab Mukherjee.

Rahul had earlier on Friday also asked for a discussion in parliament under a rule that makes it a must for the government to answer.

"Rahul Gandhi wants the government's clarification and he also wants to place some facts before the House. There has been some irregularity in the Rafale deal and the government is hiding behind the confidentiality clause to avoid answers," said Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.