Nirmala Sitharaman Hits Back at Rahul Gandhi; Defence Minister Demands Apology From Congress President For 'Misleading The Nation' on HAL

New Delhi, January 6: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for demanding her resignation. The defence minister alleged that Gandhi was misleading the nation. In a tweet, she clarified that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed contracts worth Rs 26570.8 crore between 2014 and 2018. Sitharaman further added that contracts worth Rs 73000 Cr are in the pipeline.

It's a shame that the president of @INCIndia is misleading the nation.

HAL has signed contracts worth Rs 26570.8 Cr (Between 2014 and 2018) and contracts worth Rs 73000 Cr are in the pipeline.

Will @RahulGandhi apologise to the country from the floor of the house? pic.twitter.com/KIQsWikByG

— Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) January 6, 2019

She even demanded an apology from the Congress president. In another tweet, the Defence Minister asked the Congress president to read the full report of The Times of India to which Gandhi referred while demanding Sitharaman’s resignation. She also asked the Congress president not to mislead the public and quoting an article even before reading it.

Please read the complete report in ⁦@timesofindia⁩ to which you ( ⁦@RahulGandhi⁩ )are referring: “However, as the LS record shows, Sitharaman did not claim the orders were signed, saying they were in the works.” | India News - Times of India https://t.co/2v6MAZ2t3o

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) January 6, 2019

Dear Shri @RahulGandhi , looks like you really need to start from ABCs.

Someone like you who is hellbent on misleading the public will quote an article even before reading it. https://t.co/D6osVZfDU9

— NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 6, 2019

Earlier in the day, Gandhi accused Sitharaman of lying to the Parliament. In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi asked Nirmala Sitharaman to prove her claim that the Modi government has given Rs 1 lakh crore worth of orders to defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), or resign.

When you tell one lie, you need to keep spinning out more lies, to cover up the first one.

In her eagerness to defend the PM's Rafale lie, the RM lied to Parliament.

Tomorrow, RM must place before Parliament documents showing 1 Lakh crore of Govt orders to HAL.

Or resign. pic.twitter.com/dYafyklH9o

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 6, 2019

Sitharaman in on Friday during a discussion on Rafale deal in Lok Sabha said that orders worth Rs one lakh crore including Rs 50,000 crore order for procuring 83 Light Combat Aircraft Tejas and 15 combat helicopters worth Rs 3,000 are in the pipeline. Meanwhile, TOI reported that though acceptance of necessity and clearance by defence Acquisition Council has been completed for some orders, no actual order has been placed yet.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 06, 2019 07:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).