New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday smelled a rat in the US predator drone deal and said PM Modi should come clean on the mega defence scam after anomalies in the Rafale jet deal.
“There are all signs that the predator drone deal is blowing into a big scam. It is the second big defence scam after the Rafale jet deal. The issue involves national security and public money. There has been controversy over the prices of the drones recently. As a result, the government had to issue a clarification through the PIB and defence minister Rajnath Singh too had to make a statement. The PM should come clean over the drone deal as he alone was responsible for signing it,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.
According to Khera, the 31 MQ-9B drone deal scam was worth Rs 25,000 crore or $3 billion and the government paid double the price at $110 million per unit than what the company General Atomics charged other countries.
The Congress leaders wondered why the Cabinet Committee on Security did not meet to approve the drone deal, signed by the PM during his recent visit to the US. “We would like to know why there was no CCS meeting to approve the drone deal. Why is the government of India paying more price for the same product than other countries,” said Khera.
“The Indian Air Force too had objected to the expensive drones and was given 31 drones when it had asked only for 18. What is the link of the CEO of General Atomics with the Indian government,” he said. The Congress leader wondered why there was no tendering done for the mega defence deal.
