The integration of the Rafale jets will allow the IAF to hit targets inside both Pakistan and across the northern and eastern borders while still staying within India's territory.
Even as three Rafale fighters line up in Bengaluru for eye-popping aerobatics displays at the Aero India 2015 exhibition this week, senior ministry of defence sources say the proposal to buy the French fighter is "effectively dead".
"I answer all your questions, whatever you ask me. Why don't you question Prime Minister Modi on the Rafale deal, on Amit Shah's son. Why don't you question the prime minister who changed the entire Rafale deal to help a businessman?" he asked.
Gandhi used a purported audio clip to allege that Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is 'blackmailing' Modi.
Last week, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said buying 90 less Rafale fighter jets than the 126 planned earlier would save him money to buy more Tejas Light Combat Aircraft for the India Air Force.
No single individual, institution, or action is to blame for this. The BJP is responding in kind -- definitely not without checking with its government. And they wait for Mr Trump, notes Shekhar Gupta.
In their review plea, they alleged that the judgment "relied upon patently incorrect claims made by the government in an unsigned note given in a sealed cover" to the apex court.
BJP had on Wednesday tweeted a graphic, saying that the Rafale combat aircraft deal has been "finalised" and the Narendra Modi government had saved over Rs 21,000 crore in the "re-negotiation" with the French government.
The negotiations over the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets have entered the "final stages" as both India and France have managed to narrow down their differences over the pricing.
Chidambaram said he feels that Dassault 'is laughing all the way to the bank', as the NDA government gave a 'gift'.
Referring to the note, Sinha said the official who initiated it was not a part of the negotiating team.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday.
Is it Rs 300 billion or Rs 66 billion or Rs 33.12 billion?
"The country has suffered a lot due to selfish interests earlier and now politics over Rafale," he said.
The deal which is worth 7.87-billion (Rs 58,363 crore) comes with a saving of nearly 750 million (Rs 5,611 crore).
Suspense continued on Tuesday over whether the issue of Rafale fighter deal, which has been stuck over cost, will figure in talks that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have with French President Francois Hollande during his visit beginning on Thursday.
He has termed the deal 'a case of arbitrariness'.
'In the Balakot operation, we had technology on our side, and we could launch precision stand of weapons with great accuracy.'
Sitharaman said the weapon systems, avionics and other key add-ons to the Rafale aircraft, will be 'much superior' than that negotiated by the UPA.
A high-level team from France is expected to arrive in New Delhi next month to firm up the order for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft by India.
'Under the present Defence Procurement Procedure, it would have been a nightmare, and a long, long one at that, to build 108 Rafales in India. Modi realised this and took the wise decision, though it is a definitive setback for his Make in India scheme.'
Bharatiya Janaya Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Friday threatened to take legal recourse if government went ahead with the Rafale jet deal with France, saying there were shortcomings in the fighter aircraft.
The group said Dassault choose Reliance Defence Ltd to meet its 'offset' or export obligation in the contract and the Ministry of Defence has no role in the selection of Indian partners by the foreign vendors.
Anwar's move came a day after media reports quoted Pawar having told a Marathi news channel that he did not think people had doubts over the prime minister's intentions in the Rafale fighter plane deal.
The Congress has alleged irregularities in the deal for 36 aircraft and claimed that the Narendra Modi government is buying them at a price much higher than the one that was being negotiated by the previous government. The party has also been accusing the government of favouring Anil Ambani's firm in the deal.
Pawar's recent comment which was inferred as defence of Modi was welcomed by the BJP and party president Amit Shah had thanked Pawar for the same.
Gandhi also labelled Mann Ki Baat a monologue.
The French government has rejected Indian negotiators' demand for a 50 per cent offset clause citing sharp cost escalation but offered to participate in 'Make in India' projects to carry forward the talks for 36 Rafale fighter jets that have hit turbulence.
India's multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter jet contract with France has not been finalised yet and is still in the negotiation stage.
In a two-page letter written on December 12, 2017, the Reliance head said he was "personally saddened" by the "unfortunate statements" against him and his group by several functionaries of the Congress party.
As the Cabinet approves the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets, Nitin Gokhale/Bharatshakti.in reveals how India brought down the price of the Rafale deal.
India's enemies be warned: The Rafale deal will bring a sea change in India's defence preparedness.
Suspense over the multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter plane deal continued on Friday as French Ambassador Francois Richier said a "complex negotiation" is going on, just two days ahead of the visit of his President Francois Hollande to India.
The audit is under progress and the report is yet to be finalised. The information cannot be given under Section 8(1)(C) of the RTI Act as the disclosure would cause breach of Parliament, the CAG said.
Overcoming tough competition from Eurofighter Typhoon, French aviation company Dassault's Rafale fighter jet has won Indian Air Force's mammoth deal for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft worth Rs 52,000 crore.
Identifying Hindustan Aeronautics Limited as its "'main partner' in the multirole combat aircraft deal, France's Dassault Aviation today said it will set up a joint venture company with Reliance Industries to work on the $10 billion Rafale project.
Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the Rafale, that is the 2007 offer.
HAL will build each Su-30 at just Rs 4.25 billion. The IAF is paying Rs 11.25 billion per Rafale, excluding the price of weapons and logistics.
'When you ask one of the established industrialists to execute a large project it is exactly the same as your not asking your neighbourhood dhaba-owner to cater at your daughter's wedding dinner which will be attended by a thousand guests,' notes T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Parrikar had moved to the South Block at the insistence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2014.
