Pass or Ra-fail? Rahul Gandhi mocks govt on Rafale deal with Amul cartoon

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence over the Rafale aircraft deal, Rahul Gandhi Gandhi said despite having four "Rafale mantris", none of them knew what transpired in France during the negotiations.

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Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally re-negotiated the agreement with France. (File)

In a fresh salvo at the government over the Rafale deal, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally re-negotiated the agreement with France and none of the “four revolving” defence ministers had any inkling about it. Gandhi, who has been relentlessly demanding that the government make the cost of the fighter jet public, also alleged that in not having a stable defence minister, PM Modi got “space to personally re-negotiate” the Rafale deal with France.

“Since 2014, India has had four revolving Raksha Mantris. Now we know why. It gave the PM space to personally re-negotiate RAFALE with the French,” the Congress chief tweeted along with a cartoon of Amul captioned ‘Pass or Ra-fail?’. Hitting out at the PM for his silence over the aircraft deal, Gandhi said despite having four “Rafale mantris”, none of them knew what transpired in France during the negotiations. India had signed an inter-governmental pact with France in September 2016 for procurement of 36 Rafale jets.

Since 2014, India has had 4 revolving Raksha Mantris.

Now we know why. It gave the PM space to personally re-negotiate RAFALE with the French.

India has had 4 “RAFALE Mantris”. But, none of them know what really transpired in France. Except the PM.

But he won’t speak! pic.twitter.com/exNkm9mn8T

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 24, 2018

“India has had 4 ‘RAFALE Mantris’. But, none of them know what really transpired in France. Except the PM. But he won’t speak!” Gandhi said. It may be recalled that senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley took interim charge of the defence portfolio twice – once after the government was formed in 2014 and after Manohar Parrikar became the chief minister of Goa. Nirmala Sitharaman was made defence minister last year.

READ | Congress gives privilege notices against PM Modi, defence minister

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Even as the war of words between BJP and Congress over the Rafale deal continued, Congress gave notices for moving privilege motion against Modi and Sitharaman for misleading the House over the issue while making statements during the no-confidence motion last week.

Four BJP MPs have also submitted a privilege notice against Gandhi, accusing him of “misleading” Parliament by making “false” allegations against the PM and the defence minister.

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