Indian gov't rebuts opposition's charge of corruption in Rafale jets deal

NEW DELHI, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government on Wednesday gave its clarification on the allegations leveled by the opposition Congress party over possible corruption in the Rafale aircraft deal.

The aircraft deal for 36 Rafale aircraft was signed in 2016 by the Indian government, which described the Congress' allegations as "unfounded" and an attempt to "twist facts."

According to a statement released by the Defence Ministry, the government completed the negotiations over the defence deal in just about one year and that the deal secured was better in terms of capability, price, equipment, delivery, maintenance, training, etc.

Over the past few days the Congress led by its president Rahul Gandhi had been demanding a clarification from Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to why the deal was struck without proper consultations with defence officials and signed the deal in a haste.

The statement also stated that it could not provide item-wide details of the government-to-government deal struck with France as the government was merely following the confidentiality provisions of the bilateral agreement signed by the previous Congress-led government in 2008. Enditem