15 February Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala said on Saturday that there should be no unilateral decision from the government to buy F35 fighter aircraft from the US.
Referring to the alleged technical points related to the aircraft, he also questioned whether the Air Force was consulted about the purchase? At the time of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent American visit, President Donald Trump also announced that the US would increase the sale of military hardware to India, including the possible supply of the ‘F-35 Stealth fighter jet’ aircraft.
Surjewala posted on ‘X’, “Prime Minister Modi is buying F35 fighter aircraft from America. But did the Modi government consider some aspects in the interest of the country before the President Trump’s request to buy the F35 aircraft unilaterally.
He questioned whether the Modi government wants to buy F35 fighter aircraft as per the Indian Air Force’s defense interests and whether opinion was taken from the Air Force? Surjewala said, “Why the committee of pilots and defense experts of the Indian Air Force did not make any recommendation to buy F35 fighter aircraft and neither did the Defense Procurement Council decide the deals of defense purchase? ”
He questioned how can the Prime Minister take a unilateral decision? He also raised questions about the price of this aircraft. The Congress leader said, “Does Prime Minister Modi not know that the F35 aircraft is the most expensive fighter aircraft in the world.”