It was not Tehelka, the push came from the CAG and the government approved it. And the result was disastrous.
CAG slams NDA-1 for delaying Rafale deal, but lauds its move against IAF pitch
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 001116.cms
15 Feb 2019
"NEW DELHI: The Vajpayee government took the right decision in asking the Indian Air Force to agree to a multi-vendor bidding process to acquire a new fleet of medium-range fighters but the process consumed
four long years during which the IAF kept pressing for the specific choice of Mirage 2000 II planes. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the Rafale acquisition traces the initiation of the proposal for the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) with the IAF in 2000 seeking to acquire 126 Mirage jets for induction from 2004-05. Two squadrons were to be directly procured from Dassault and the rest produced in India by HAL under licence.
The IAF's pitch for a single-source procurement was based on the Mirage's successful role in the 1999 Kargil war where the planes were used to target entrenched Pakistani positions high in the mountains. The proposal was not approved by the defence ministry on the grounds that this violated norms and called for a competitive tendering process.
The IAF did not give up its bid to acquire the advanced version of Mirage jets and resubmitted its proposal, stating that other options like Rafale, Eurofighter and F-35 planes were technologically superior but costlier. The force claimed that the "excess combat capacity" of the aircraft would remain underutilised. Despite another cold shoulder, the IAF resubmitted its proposal in December 2001.
With IAF now arguing that the procurement be treated as a "repeat purchase", discussions were held between Dassault Aviation, HAL, DRDO and finance ministry from April to September 2002. In its report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, the CAG expressed strong disapproval of this delay which dragged on till January 2004, before finally being junked and the IAF being directed to begin competitive tendering."
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Notwithstanding the public perception, the Congress government (sic.) under the leadership of Sh. PV Narasimha Rao, took a
courageous decision in the procurement of Sukhoi-30 fighters paying 350M USD (in 1996) AFTER the election code of conduct was enforced, something that could have cost them the election. In doing so he made sure that India got a fighter that was the best in the world at the time of its induction (MKI not the earlier MK). To his credit, Mulayam allowed the deal to go through.
