New Delhi, Jan 22
The Congress has congratulated Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for not granting the tender for manufacture of diesel-powered submarines to the Adani HSL joint venture.

Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said "We congratulate Rajnath Singh that he did not give Rs 45,000 crore submarine project to Adani Defence, the Congress has raised this issue but he has kept nation above friends, this is because we had raised the red flag."

The Adani Group and state-owned Hindustan Shipyard Limited's joint venture bid to participate in the Rs 45,000 crore submarine project -- referred to as Project 75-I -- was on Tuesday rejected by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The joint venture bid of Adani Group and Hindustan Shipyard Limited for the Project 75-I programme to build six new diesel-electric submarines was rejected on technical grounds. According to sources, Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks Ltd (MDL) and Larsen and Turbo (L&T) have been approved as the Indian strategic partners (SP) and will now compete to be chosen for constructing six submarines in India.

Whichever company finally wins the bid will be working with five foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). European Naval Group and Spanish Navantia are among the foreign shipyards that have been chosen to offer their advanced submarine technology to the selected Indian strategic partner for the project.

Earlier also the Congress had raised the issue as chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged "The government is flouting norms and the defence procurement procedure 2016 (DPP-2016) in awarding the contract to the Adani-HSL joint venture".

"The Submarine Project 75-I is under a cloud of suspicion owing to allegations of favouritism, crony capitalism, violations of the DPP-2016 and an alleged over-ruling of the Indian Navy and its empowered committee by the Modi government," said Surjewala.

Cong hails Rajnath for rejecting Adani submarine bid