Former Union minister P Chidambaram on Monday asked the Centre to explain why the number of Rafale aircraft to be bought from France was limited to 36 instead of 126 that the United Progressive Alliance government had agreed upon, PTI reported.

“They claimed that the fighter jet was cheaper...In that case they should tell how they [jets] are cheaper,” the Congress leader told reporters on sidelines of a party meeting. “They are not revealing...besides, if the cost of the plane is cheaper then why not buy more jets? Why is the government buying only 36 jets?”

Chidambaram said the country has seen three defence ministers in the last four years of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rule, but no one had done a proper job. The Congress leader said the incumbent, Nirmala Sitharaman, was “not aware of anything”.

Chidambaram said the government had purchased only 36 aircraft even though seven squadrons in the Indian Air Force needed 18 aircraft each. “This is simple arithmetic,” he said, according to The Hindu. “When we find that the price of a commodity we proposed to buy has come down, we will buy more of the commodity taking advantage of the fall in price but the BJP government has done the other way around.”

In 2016, India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets, for Rs 58,000 crore. The Congress and several other leaders have been accusing the Narendra Modi government of getting an overpriced deal.

On September 21, French media outlet Mediapart quoted former French President Francois Hollande as saying that the Indian government proposed the name of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence for an offset contract with Dassault Aviation, which manufactures the fighter jets. India’s Ministry of Defence, the French government and Dassault Aviation have contradicted his claim.