Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh atacked the Congress on Rafale.
Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh on Wednesday accused the Congress of giving misinformation to the nation over the Rafale deal. In a sharp attack to Congress, Mr Singh said that instead of asking questions from the Modi government over the Rafale deal, the party should first explain to the nation why the deal was dropped when the party was in power.
The minister also slammed the Congress for dragging the armed forces into the row over the Rafale deal.
"Before they (Congress) seek answers, they must first give answers to the nation. The nation needs to know that why did this deal not go through when everything had been done and at the last minute it was dropped. Can Congress explain that?" Mr Singh asked, in an interview to news agency ANI.
He also asked why the Congress never gave the contract to HAL.
"Can they explain why it (the contract) was not given to HAL? They should come out candidly and explain to the nation. Then only they have a right to ask a question," said Mr Singh.
"Most of the time I have found, they just throw out misinformation to distract people and for political game. They are not seeking the truth. They know the truth," he added.
Mr Singh also talked about the letter he wrote as the Army Chief to former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
"As part of ethos, system and norms in the armed forces, periodically you do write to the Prime Minister telling them what exactly is happening. In this particular case, the Prime Minister was apprised of various deficiencies and hollowness. Nothing happened after he was briefed," Mr Singh said.
He said that secret letter he wrote to Dr Singh was "leaked" to blame him.
"I find it absolutely ridiculous that a secret letter written by the Chief of Army Staff addressed to the PM can get leaked. People should have been hanged (for this leak). I know the reason why it was leaked. Somebody wanted to unnecessarily blame me," he said.
Disclaimer: NDTV has been sued for 10,000 crores by Anil Ambani's Reliance Group for its coverage of the Rafale deal