New Delhi, September 6: The Congress on Wednesday launched a fresh salvo at the Narendra Modi government for asking Russia to sign an agreement with state-run ordinance Factory Board (OFB) instead of a private firm. The opposition party accused the Centre of different yardsticks for various defence deals. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi raised a question on the government’s move of asking not to have a contract with a private firm to manufacture AK-103 rifles.

Singhvi giving reference of Rafale deal accused the Modi government of adopting a different approach for two different defence deals. Singhvi citing media reports of government turning down Kalashnikov Concern’s tie-up with Adani group, said that why it did not apply same yardsticks in the Rafale deal advising Dassault Aviation to negotiate with government-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) instead of signing an off-set contract with Reliance Defence.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed it regressive thinking of the party. “I consider Abhishek Singhvi a scholar and a fine lawyer, but what is this logic? There are 36 planes coming in from there. Nothing will be done in India. In the case of the Russian guns transaction, it will all be built here. These are two completely different transactions,” reported Hindustan Times quoting Jaitley as saying.

He added that besides giving space to private manufactures, the government would ensure the public undertaking should get adequate orders. Jaitley also said that the price of the aircraft was in fact 9 percent cheaper than it was under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The Finance minister claimed that there was an escalation, currency variation and the aircraft purchased by the NDA government would have various add-ons and weaponry installed in them.

Initially, the UPA government signed a deal of USD 12 billion which amounts to Rs 78,000 crore (approx.) for acquiring 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), Rafale Fighter jets. Out of these 126 jets, 18 were to be procured in ‘ready to fly’ condition and rest were to be produced in India in partnership with the HAL. As the UPA failed to conclude the deal before the 2014 elections, the Modi government after coming to power scrapped the old deal. The government signed a new contract in 2016, worth Rs 59,000 to acquire 36 jets in ready to fly condition.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 06, 2018 04:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).