Senior Congress Leader Pawan Khera Accuses PM Modi Of 'Costly Hobbies' With Predator Drone Deal

On Wednesday, Congress leader Pawan Khera criticized Prime Minister Modi for the central government's recent approval of the procurement of armed Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) from the United States.

Khera stated, “What happened in the Rafale deal, is being repeated in the Predator drone deal with the US. Other countries are buying the same drones at less than four times the price. India is buying 31 Predator drones for 3 billion US dollars, which is Rs 25,000 crores. We are buying a drone for Rs 880 crores.”

Khera also said that this deal came despite large investments in Make In India programs.

“You first gave 1,786 crore rupees to DRDO for ‘Rustom’ and ‘Ghatak’ drone development, then gave 25 thousand crores to America as well. These drones have outdated technology and will be made available without the full transfer of technology. That means you are buying junk at an expensive price. Can I ask why?”, Khera questioned.

On Amit Malviya, BJP's IT Cell Chief, being booked Khera stated, "More FIRs should be registered against him (Amit Malviya). If anyone is responsible for playing with truth, facts, people's images, and the country's reputation, it is the BJP IT cell."

The government had already responded last Sunday to some of the criticism about the MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones.

"Some speculative reports emerged in sections of social media referring to the price and other terms of purchase. These are uncalled for, have ulterior motives and aimed at derailing the due acquisition process. Price and other terms & conditions of the purchase are yet to be finalised and subject to negotiations," a statement from defence ministry said.

The ministry also clarified that the prices haven't been finalised yet.

".. price will be negotiated once policy approval of the US government is received," the ministry said.

"The Ministry of Defence (MoD) will compare the acquisition cost with the best price offered by General Atomics (GA) to other countries. The procurement is in progress and would be completed as per the laid down procedure," it added.

More on the government's response can be found here.