Arun Jaitley praises Nirmala Sitharaman on fiery Lok Sabha reply over Rafale deal
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has found new fans — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah. And why? Because she “demolished a fake campaign” today. The so-called fake campaign? The ongoing debate on the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal in the Lok Sabha today.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Friday praised Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her fiery “point-by-point” rebuttal to the Congress’s charges on the Rafale deal in Parliament.
“Well done! Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman ji, for an outstanding performance. You demolished the fake campaign. We are all proud of your performance,” Jaitley tweeted.
Sitharaman was representing the government in Lok Sabha where Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday fired question after question on alleged discrepancies in the Rafale deal.
“A LIE goes only so far and no further. Defence Minister Smt @nsitharaman ji has completely demolished Congress party’s lies and misinformation campaign on Rafale with her excellent speech loaded with facts. I congratulate her for bringing the truth to the nation,” tweeted Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah.
Taking on the Congress, the Sitharaman also said, “You stopped the [Rafale] deal, forgetting Air Force was suffering. You didn’t conclude the deal, because it didn’t suit you. The deal didn’t get you money.”
Not one to stay quiet, Sitharaman hit back, alleging that the Congress was only shedding crocodile tears over the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited not getting an offset contract as it did nothing to scale up the capacity of the state-run firm.
Sitharaman also hit back at Gandhi’s accusation that she didn’t answer any questions posed to the government. “Have you [Rahul Gandhi] apologised after having winked an eye at PM, after hugging the PM? This is not the way a House should run” she retorted.
She even went after Gandhi’s family, quipping “I don’t have a khandaan (family) to boast of. The prime minister also comes from a poor background. He has come here from hard work. I have my honour intact. PM has his honour intact. We have all come from normal backgrounds.”
