Rajeev Chandrasekhar attacks Rahul Gandhi over HAL, says company became 'Rs 1.35 lakh cr company under PM Modi'

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday attacked Rahul Gandhi for his comments against state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The minister said that Gandhi used 'lies' to distract and mislead people, based upon the Congress leader's 2019 statement which had claimed that HAL was going to go sick.

Chandrasekhar was referring to Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 claim that the Modi government has weakened the state-run aerospace major and destroyed India’s strategic capability to benefit Anil Ambani.

Chandrasekhar further noted that HAL became a Rs 1.35 lakh crore company under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  He added that shares of HAL have become five times of what they were in 2013, when the Congress was in power at the Centre.

“Rahul Gandhi, a few years ago, had criticised HAL and in his usual way of trying to take potshots at the government and use lies to distract and mislead people, he said HAL is a company that is going to sick. It is important for the people to realise and celebrate how under PM Modi, HAL has become a Rs 1.35 lakh crore company. The shares of HAL have become five times what they were in 2013," Chandrasekhar told ANI.

Not only did Gandhi accuse the BJP of benefitting Anil Ambani by not giving HAL the required funds, he also attacked Nirmala Sitharaman, who was the Defence Minister at the time. He accused Sitharaman of “lying” in Parliament and evading his questions on the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Gandhi said at the time: “So you have to undermine HAL which is what the government is doing. They are saying HAL can’t build anything but Anil Ambani can. Anil Ambani has never built an aircraft in his life, HAL has built multiple different types of aircraft”.

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He further commented that the "strategy" of this government is to weaken HAL and not give it enough money besides giving the "gift" to Anil Ambani.

"The strategy of the government is -- weaken HAL, do not give it money, destroy India's strategic capability and give the 'gift' to Anil Ambani. That is the plan and that is what we are trying to thwart," Gandhi had asserted.

Reacting to Gandhi's allegations, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had, in turn, accused the Congress of not supporting HAL during its rule and had asserted that the government is now strengthening the defence public sector undertaking.

This war of words between BJP and Congress had erupted after a media report from January 2019 had suggested that HAL was forced to borrow around Rs 1,000 crore to pay salaries to its employees for the first time in years.

The report further claimed that the defence PSU's operations could come to a complete standstill in 2019 due to lack of funds to make fresh purchases and/or pay its vendors. The Ministry of Defence allocates budgets to the defence forces, which pay HAL out of the funds they receive.

HAL shares are trading 0.90 per cent up at 3,885 apiece on the BSE at the time of writing this story.

(With PTI inputs)

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