Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday hit out at the Narendra Modi government for claiming that files on the Rafale deal were stolen and leaked to the media. “Why did the government hide the theft from Parliament? The papers definitely had some important information,” Pawar said.

The Central Government had earlier this week told the Supreme Court that documents related to the Rafale aircraft deal were stolen and details in the file were published by sections of the media.
Pawar also accused the BJP of adopting double standards regarding defence deals.

“These are the same people who are refusing to order an inquiry into the deal though they had demanded a probe into the Bofors case in the past,” Pawar said.

The Maratha strongman also pointed out that the Modi government had increased the price of the Rafale aircraft.

“The contract was taken away from the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and given to Anil Ambani’s new company which had no experience in aircraft manufacturing,” Pawar said.