Rahul Gandhi smells 'scam' in Rafale deal, says defence minister doing flip flops on secrecy clause

Upping the ante against Narendra Modi government, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday smelled a ‘scam’ in Rafale fighter aircraft deal with France, accusing Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of doing flip-flops on secrecy close.

“Our Defence Minister said she would, but now she won’t. She flip flops between “it’s-not-a-secret” & “it’s-a-BIG-secret”. The PM squirms when asked about the price of RAFALE and refuses to look me in the eye. Sure smells like a scam,” Gandhi tweeted.

The claims of a scam in the Rafale deal with France came two days after he launched a scathing attack on the Modi government and Sitharaman over the deal.

On Friday, the Congress president in his speech during the no-confidence motion debate had accused the defence minister of lying to the people of the country and claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron had told him that no secrecy pact was stopping her from revealing the Rafale aircraft pricing.

Hours after his claim, government of France issued an official statement saying that the 2008 security agreement between India and France was applicable in the Rafale deal. However, the statement didn’t mention the Congress president’s claimed conversation with Macron.