Congress trains gun on govt over the offset clause in Rafale deal

Reacting to this, Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said details as to how the offset would discharged must be the part of the clause.

New Delhi, Aug 29: The Congress on Wednesday (August 29) lashed out at the government over the offset clause in the Rafale deal. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier said that the offset clause in the deal to buy fighter jets from French manufacturer only mandates them to partner with an Indian firm.

Jaitley had said that the clause does not dictate who the manufacturer should colloborate with for offset purpose.

Reacting to this, Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said details as to how the offset would discharged must be the part of the clause.

"For him to say offset is not part of contract is wrong. Defence procurement policy is very clear. Vendor has to notify how offset liability will be discharged. DPP says it has to be defence PSU with experience in the sector, so only HAL had that," Sharma told news agency ANI.

Jaitley had, in an interview to ANI, slammed the Congress for levelling 'false' allegations against the Centre over the Rafale deal. He said every fact quoted by the Congress while speaking on Rafale deal issue was false, adding that Rahul Gandhi had little understanding of the issue.

Jaitley made it clear that governments only deal with governments and the offset has nothing to do with the contract.

"Let's be clear, this is a government to government arrangement. Offset has nothing to do with this contract. There are 100s of offsets in India. Government will purchase 36 fully-loaded aircrafts coming all the way from France, manufactured in France, no private party involved. Government of India's role ends there," he said in the interview.