Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that ever since the Modi government came to power, there was a conscious effort to keep middlemen at bay from the corridors of the Defence Ministry. “Between 2014 and today, in the purchases (in defence), including the ones done by Manohar Parrikar and Arun Jaitley, we deliberately not had any middleman coming into the corridors of South Block,†the Defence Minister said.
Sitharaman also slammed the Congress for calling Chief of Air Force Birender Singh Dhanoa a liar for saying that Rafale is a good aircraft. “Chief of Air Force was called a liar by our opponents for just calling the Rafale a good aircraft. He didn't say he loves PM Modi or he likes BJP. He just said it is a damn good aircraft, that's his business to say,†tweeted ANI.
Accusing the opposition of spreading misinformation in the Rafale deal, Sitharaman wondered whether they were becoming pawns in a corporate rivalry.
"I want every strand of this debate to be explained, as much as it can be, without any of us playing into the hands of international corporate warfare. None of us should play party to any corporate warfare. We cannot become pawns in the hands of the corporate giants to constantly bully the government, to constantly throw misinformation at the public, to misinform the public," Sitharaman said while addressing a seminar on 'India's Strategic Interest in Context of the Rafale Deal'.
She also accused the opposition of spreading doing a "disservice" to the nation by misinforming the public on the fighter jet deal.
"You (opposition) are misinforming the public and doing disservice to the country if you are becoming pawns in a corporate rivalry. Is India's interest at the top of your agenda or are you becoming a partner to some kind of corporate rivalry," she asked.
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