Prove order given to HAL or resign, Rahul tells Nirmala

Sitharaman hit back at the allegation saying it is a matter of “shame” that the Congress chief was “misleading” the country without fully understanding the issue.

Gandhi’s attack came after a media report claimed that “not a single rupee of the said Rs 1 lakh crore has come to HAL, since not a single order, as claimed, has been signed till now”. The media report cited senior HAL management officials in order to back its claim.

“When you tell one lie, you need to keep spinning out more lies, to cover up the first one. In her eagerness to defend the PM’s Rafale lie, the RM lied to Parliament,” Gandhi tweeted.

“Tomorrow, RM must place before Parliament documents showing 1 Lakh crore of Govt orders to HAL. Or resign,” he said.

Suggesting that Gandhi jumped the gun while making the charges following a media report, Sitharaman’s office tweeted that Gandhi should “start from ABCs” and read the complete report before commenting on it. “It’s a shame that the president of @INCIndia is misleading the nation. 

HAL has signed contracts worth Rs 26570.8 Cr (Between 2014 and 2018) and contracts worth Rs 73000 Cr are in the pipeline. Will @RahulGandhi apologise to the country on the floor of the house?,” Sitharaman tweeted from the defence minister’s official handle. There was another report that said HAL was forced to borrow money to pay salaries to its employees.

In a tweet, HAL said the contracts for light combat aircraft and light combat helicopters are “in advanced stages” and that it has taken overdraft of Rs 962 crore. Sitharaman also tweeted details of contract awarded to HAL since 2014 when BJP came to power.