Rafale deal: All the wildly inconsistent pricing theories of Rahul Gandhi

The Supreme Court on Friday dealt a massive blow to the Congress and the Lobby by dismissing a batch of petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the intergovernmental deal between India and France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

The dismissal of the petitions comes as a major blow particularly to Rahul Gandhi who has been insistent on calling the deal a scam. However, despite taking his allegations to virtually every platform, he has been wildly inconsistent in his numbers. Here's an account of what the Congress president has alleged over time: 

• On March 16,2018, in a series of tweets:  “Dassault called Raksha Mantri's's lie and released prices paid per RAFALE plane in report,". "Qatar = 1319 crore, MODI (i) = 1670 crore, Manmohan Singh  = 570 crore,”  
• On April 29,2018, at the Jan Akrosh Rally: “When Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister each Rafale aircraft would cost Rs 700 crore," .
• On July 20, 2018, Rahul Gandhi in his speech in Parliament on the No Confidence motion said: "In our time during the UPA the cost of each Plane was Rs. 520 crore” 
• On August 10, 2018 Rahul Gandhi in his address to his party workers at Raipur said: “The UPA Government had contracted for 126 Rafale jets at the cost of Rs 540 crores” 
• On August 11, 2018, in a speech to his party workers in Jaipur, Rahul Gandhi claimed: “The UPA Government had contracted with the Dassault Company for the Rafale Jets at the cost of 520 crore per jet”. He later added in the same speech, "the UPA Government had 540 crores for each Rafale Jet”  
• On August 13, addressing a rally in Hyderabad, Rahul Gandhi claimed, "In Parliament in my speech, I asked the Chowkidaar of nation, how did the cost of a Jet became 1600 crore from 526 crores?"

As per sources, despite the setback, the Congress plans to continue raising the Rafale issue. For an account of what the Supreme Court said in its verdict, read here - 

READ | Titanic Win For Modi Government: Supreme Court Dismisses Opposition And Lobby's Plea On Rafale Deal 

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