BJP leaders used to stall house over Bofors: NCP chief Sharad Pawar

Jumping into the Rafale deal controversy, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday stated that the same leaders in the present government would stall the house demanding details of Bofors deal when they were in Opposition.

Pawar also claimed that the government should not have any problem in revealing the price of the Rafale fighter jet to be purchased from France.

Pawar who was in Pune on Tuesday to attend an event, supported the Congress party in targeting the ruling BJP over the Rafale deal controversy.

Amid the growing controversy, Pawar, who was also once a defence minister, said, "These are the same leaders in BJP who had cornered the Congress government on the issue of Bofors deal by insisting that they wanted all details of the Bofors deal and now when they are in Centre, they are citing various reasons for not giving details of the Rafale deal."

"Leaders such as Sushma Swaraj and others would stall the work of the house demanding every detail of the Bofors deal," he added.

Pawar claimed that the government should not have any problem in revealing the price of Rafale aircraft. "I was also a defence minister and I also know about the confidential agreement. I understand that the confidentiality of the technological aspect should be kept by maintaining utmost secrecy. However, the price of the aircraft is not a technical issue, hence, the government should not have any problem in giving out details of the price," he said.