New Delhi: Leading the Congress offensive against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government during the debate preceding the no-trust vote, party president Rahul Gandhi yesterday raised questions over the Rafale aircraft deal with France hinting at massive graft.

Rahul alleged that the government’s deal with France for 36 Rafale fighter jets was massively overpriced.

“When Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to France with some magic powers, the price per plane increased to Rs1,600 crore [Rs16 billion], much more than Rs520 crore when the Congress was in power,” he said.

Rahul said that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had “spoken untruth” about the Rafale deal. “Nirmala Sitharaman first said that she would reveal the price of each unit of Rafale jet fighter. But later on, she declined to share the details citing secrecy clause in the agreement with France. I met the president of France. I asked him about the secrecy clause and he denied that any such clause exists in the agreement. He told me so and I don’t have any objection if you tell this to everyone in the country. Under pressure from the PM, Nirmala Sitharaman told lie to the nation,” Rahul stated.

Responding to Rahul’s allegations against her, Sitharaman said a secrecy agreement with France was signed in year 2008 and Rafale deal was also covered in it.

She said the French president told an Indian media outlet that price of the jets could not be revealed and that what he told Rahul was not relevant.

After a scathing critique of Modi, the Congress leader walked across to the PM and hugged him.

Later, the BJP moved a privilege motion against Rahul for his allegations against the PM.

The BJP termed Rahul’s hug an “immature” act and said his speech was “low on substance.”

“It was low on substance and high on entertainment value. Since yesterday, the country was observing Rahul and wanted to hear his speech,” BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

Later, the French government responded to Rahul’s assertion that there was no secrecy pact for the Rafale deal, saying that the 2008 agreement signed by the two nations legally bound protection of classified information. “These provisions naturally apply to the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) concluded on 23 September 2016 on the acquisition of 36 Rafale aircraft and their weapons,” France said in a statement.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala attacked BJP over the Rafale deal. “Did the Congress government not disclose the price of INS Vikramaditya, Mirage aircraft, Sukhoi aircraft and Kaveri engine on the floor of the parliament? What prevents the Modi government from disclosing the Rafale price then? Is the wrong doing not apparent,” he said.

Meanwhile, after abstaining from the no-trust vote, BJP’s estranged ally Shiv Sena praised Gandhi’s speech in Lok Sabha.

Party leader Sanjay Raut said Gandhi had now gone graduated from the real school of politics.

“This wasn’t a hug, but a shock to Modi. There would be more tremors like today for the BJP,” Raut told media outside the House.

The BJP had earlier claimed the support of the Shiv Sena, which yesterday decided to stay away from the debate. Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) walked out, effectively reducing the strength of the house to 495 and bringing down the majority mark to 249.

Earlier in the day, Modi had called for a “constructive, comprehensive and disruption free” debate on what he said was an important day in India’s parliamentary democracy.

“India will be watching us closely,” he tweeted in the morning.