@arunjaitley 1/ Can Mr Jaitley, at least while he is still in government (Minister of Finance(?)) for next few months, bother to answer the questions, instead of raising 15 more to the Opposition?
We wish him plenty of time & success asking questions later.
@arunjaitley 2/ Mr Jaitley spends half of his blog talking of "Delay". Not that this justifies a hasty bad decision by the current government even if it was true, but Mr Jaitley is FACTUALLY incorrect in some places.
@arunjaitley 3/ Let us refresh the memory of Mr Jaitley with an easy to grasp timeline. The key point to see here is that in such a complex purchase, decisions/actions where pending with IAF itself & Vendors too at various times.
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 4/ In short, Mr Jaitley is deliberately being disingenuous, and is trying to mislead. The 2001 tender was changed on account of changing IAF needs, new offset policy, new DPP, and was different from 2007 tender with which Mr Jaitley is trying to mix it needlessly.
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 5/ Also, the ball was largely in IAF's court during it prepared the tender, defined its criteria, & again when it was evaluating the 6 planes on 643 technical criteria during 2008-2011. Is he blaming our valiant IAF personnel, who took much of this time evaluating the bids?
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 6/ Government could have only commenced the negotiations once IAF had evaluated the aircraft, yet his timer starts from the time of the tender, not from the time once IAF finished its evaluation. Note the FALSEHOOD being spread.
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 7/ Next, he praises the "quick decision making" of NDA (read Mr Modi). We have heard that before ladies & gentlemen, haven't we?
(Remember, Remember, the 8th of November?)
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 8/ This 36 plane deal is not sufficient to fulfill IAF's needs of around 200. If anything, NDA approach shows whimsical, knee-jerk & confused thinking, like that of a headless chicken...
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 9/ A) The ongoing talks for 126 (with an option of 63 more) is suddenly shelved, replaced with just 36 aircraft in Apr 2015. (finalised in Oct 2016)
B) A new $15Bn RfP for 110 planes, a repeat of the 2007 RfP is started in 2018
We are back to square one
financialexpress.com/defence/15-bil…
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 10/ He falsely assumes that it is only the Congress party asking these questions.
No Sir, many others, including some of your own ex-colleagues, anti-corruption crusaders have been asking the same questions.
But at least, at last, he is finally going to answer them.🍿🍿
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 11/ Doh! He just dismisses them as "falsehoods", and then Justice Jaitley goes on to pronounce those asking questions, (even if they aren't from Congress) guilty on 3 counts.
Done. Case Dismissed by Justice Jaitley. Go Home guys.
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 12/ Next, Mr Jaitley goes on to ask 15 questions (rather political rhetoric/counter accusations).
Yes, the Government wouldn't answer in Parliament, & now Minister is demanding answers from the Opposition via a Facebook Post!
(The first 3 are on delays during UPA again)
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 13/ This one is for Mr Gandhi to answer, but shall we stick to Euro Prices to avoid the daily change in the Rupee prices due to the depreciation?
(thanks to your able stewardship of the Finance(?) and Blogging ministries, if we may add)
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 @RahulGandhi @milinddeora @Pawankhera 14/ Is Mr Jaitley claiming that there is NO escalation clause in the new deal? (we had heard about inflation, capped at 3.5%, might refresh his memory?)
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 @RahulGandhi @milinddeora @Pawankhera 15/ If basic plane is 9% cheaper, overall, 20% cheaper, Mr Jaitley should direct this question at his ex colleague, Mr Parrikar, who told media in April 2015 that "all-inclusive" prices of the 126 planes was coming at Rs 90,000 Cr.
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 @RahulGandhi @milinddeora @Pawankhera 16/ Who said GoI has a direct Contract with Mr Ambani? You are denying a claim that no one made.
btw, So how is this better than the original deal that had a Transfer of Tech to HAL, & what was the whole tamasha of your government over "#MakeInIndia ", Mr Jaitley?
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 @RahulGandhi @milinddeora @Pawankhera 17/ Does the vendor have to submit the technical and financial proposal for fulfilling its offset obligations to MoD or not?
Are we to believe that millions of dollars are being invested by wise businessmen without any clarity on whether these will be approved?
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 @RahulGandhi @milinddeora @Pawankhera 18/ Yes, and there are specific conditions defined in Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) under which the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) route can be taken, will Mr Jaitley care to inform us which of those criteria is applicable in this case?
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 @RahulGandhi @milinddeora @Pawankhera 19/ For quick reference:
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 @RahulGandhi @milinddeora @Pawankhera 20/ Yes, as this shortlisting did not happen in 2007, but in 2012 ! (get your basic facts right, before nitpicking others on quoting 526, or 540 Cr price, Mr Jaitley! 😉 )
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 @RahulGandhi @milinddeora @Pawankhera 21/ In which universe are these terms better? They don't become better just by repeating "they are better" a million times, whereas Mr Parrikar's figures show they are more expensive, we don't have Tech Transfer, & THIS ISN'T EVEN FASTER! We are starting 2007 RfP again!
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 @RahulGandhi @milinddeora @Pawankhera 22/ Although there are more months between Apr 2015 and Sep 2016, Who is saying it didn't?
What India achieved at the end of it, due to PM's unilateral decision, is the issue.
@arunjaitley @YashwantSinha @ShatruganSinha @mkvenu1 @RahulGandhi @milinddeora @Pawankhera 23/23 Can Mr Jaitley, at least while he is still in government, bother to answer the actual questions being asked, instead of those that no one questioned?
Who approved Mr Modi's Paris declaration, of reducing the plane numbers, going for IGA?
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