On Saturday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi attacked PM Modi over an alleged scam in the Rafale fighter aircraft deal with France. Issuing a "Modi Scam Alert!" Rahul tweeted, "$15 billion fighter jet deal re-tendered. Prime minister's friend's race to tie up strategic partners.
RAFALE, (Rs) 40,000 crore loss to exchequer was Sayonara (bye bye in Japenese) money to French, so prime minister could re-tender contract and favour friends."

Rahul's comment came in the wake of a news report which stated that India is looking to buy more than 100 new fighter jets. These fighter jets were eventually expected to cost upwards of Rs 1,00,000 crore or about $15 billion. His party has been long alleging that the deal of 36 Rafale fighter jets with the French government was finalized by the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Centre at a higher price than the previous deal for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) negotiated by the Congress led-United Progressive Alliance government.

Since from a long time Congress has been pushing the Centre to reveal the price of the deal. But the Modi government has not relented any news. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the price cannot be revealed due to a national security issue. India and France signed an agreement in March on the Exchange and Reciprocal Protection of Classified or Protected Information during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron, replacing an earlier pact signed in 2008. It defines the common security controls applicable to any exchange of classified and protected information between the two countries.