New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and party spokesperson Manish Tewari on Tuesday slammed Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa over the latter's Monday statement claiming Pakistan won’t dare to come near the Line of Control (LoC) or the international border once the Rafale jets are inducted. Terming the statement as 'politically loaded', Tewari said he refrains from joining issues publicly. 

Taking to Twitter, Tewari said Dhanoa’s statement is “politically loaded”.  Tewari said, “I usually refrain from joining issues publicly with our people in uniform. Regrettably, this statement by Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa is both politically loaded in election time and has implications on India’s current deterrence capabilities. Very, Very avoidable."

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Speaking to news agency ANI on Monday, Dhanoa  said that with the inclusion of the French-made Rafale jets, forces across the border won’t dare to loiter anywhere near the International Border. the Air Chief Marshal said, “When Rafale comes in, it will ensure that the deterrence of our air defence will increase manifold and they (Pakistan) will not come anywhere near our Line of Control or border. That kind of capability we will possess, for which, presently they (Pakistan) don’t have an answer,”

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Chief Marshal Dhanoa asserted that at present, it is going to be the best aircraft in terms of the weapons capability in the Indian sub-continent and would be also the best in comparison with what China and Pakistan have.“We are going to get Rafale in the month of September. Rafale will give a tremendous jump to our capability and it is superior to all the aircraft in the inventory of both our adversaries,” he said.

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Tewari’s comments come in the wake of the controversy surrounding the Rafale deal between the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government and the French government after the deal remained in limbo since the previous UPA-II government.