According to sources when talking to reporters here on sidelines of a party meeting, he said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had decided to buy 126 Rafale aircraft and entered into an agreement. As per the report the present government had canceled it and inked a new deal.


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Chidambaram said, "Union minister Arun Jaitley had earlier said the fully weaponized fighter jets which his government was buying are 20% cheaper than the ones offered under the previous UPA regime". Earlier in 2015, then defense minister Manohar Parrikar had said the government had decided to buy only 36 Rafale fighter jets, scrapping the earlier plan to acquire 126 of the French aircraft, on grounds of huge cost.


Meanwhile, a French media report had quoted former French president Francois Hollande as purportedly saying that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale deal and France did not have a choice. Furthermore, it was stated that the Congress and other Opposition parties have stepped up their attack on the Modi government over the deal.



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