Rejecting the allegations raised by Rahul Gandhi over the Rafale deal, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the Congress president should do homework before making allegations or else she could arrange a “tutor” for him to “get his facts right”.

"We are talking on facts but unfortunately, Rahul Gandhi doesn’t want the facts. He is scared of facts and this is something which I said in the House also," Sitharaman told CNN-News18.

The Congress should give Rahul enough briefing on the matter so that he understands when facts are given and still if he has some more questions, he is welcome to ask, she said.

The defence minister also asked why the Congress-led UPA government had been unable to finalise Rafale deal, saying one should pose the same question to Rahul Gandhi.

“Each year, they (UPA) gave orders worth Rs 10,000 crore to HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited). We give orders worth Rs 20,000 crore. Why is Rahul Gandhi not being asked why they did not finalise the deal?” Sitharaman asked.

Earlier in Lok Sabha, rejecting "doubts" raised by the Congress on her statement on HAL as "incorrect and misleading", Sitharaman said contracts worth Rs 26,570 crore have been signed by the defence PSU between 2014-18 and orders amounting to Rs 73,000 crore are in pipeline, which total about Rs 1 lakh crore.

Her clarification came amid a political furore over her earlier statement in the House regarding orders placed with state-run HAL, with Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleging she had "lied" that government orders worth Rs 1 lakh crore were provided to the company.

First Published:Jan 7, 2019 8:34 PM IST