Rafale fighter jet deal: Will Swamy take the legal road now?

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets, and has termed the deal ‘a case of arbitrariness’.

Swamy on April 10 had threatened to take legal recourse if government went ahead with the Rafale jet deal with France, saying there were shortcomings in the fighter aircraft.

Later that evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India will purchase 36 of these fighter planes that are ready to fly, citing critical operational requirement of the Indian Air Force.

Swamy told CNN IBN, "I have not yet decided on whether to approach the court. I am waiting for papers on the new Rafael deal. It prima facie appears to be a case of arbitrariness."

Swamy, national executive member of the party, had requested Modi not to go ahead with the Rafale deal, arguing the performance of the French jet "turned out to be worst of all the aircraft" in Libya and Egypt.

"There are two major issues with the Rafale aircraft deal which would embarrass the BJP government. The first is that Rafale is less fuel-efficient aircraft and lacking in essential performance characteristic that no country in the world has agreed to buy these aircraft," Swamy explained in a statement.

"If the prime minister for some other 'compulsion' decides to go ahead with the deal, I will have no option but to approach the court in a public interest litigation to get it set aside," he had said.

The statement further said that some countries have cancelled contracts after signing an MoU with Dassault.

"It is a fact that Dassault will go bankrupt if no country buys the Rafale and we want to oblige the French goodwill, it is better to buy Dassault itself rather than their planes as it will be more beneficial," the leader had said.

Rafale was selected by India from among five bidders in 2012 since it was the lowest bidder. While initially, the deal was expected to be around $10 billion, it is now estimated to be over $20 billion.

With inputs from PTI