Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Monday alleged that the government had not paid the aerospace major for delivered products, but paid foreign vendors like Dassault for products yet to be delivered.

The Congress and the BJP-led NDA government are involved in a war of words over the financial condition of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

'Very disturbing that (the) government has not paid HAL for products that have been delivered but paid foreign vendors like Dassault for products that are not yet delivered!,' Patel said in a tweet. 'As a result HAL is a broke & is borrowing money to pay salaries. Is this Make in India? (sic),' he said.

The Congress has been targeting the government, alleging that it denied HAL an offset contract under the Rafale fighter jet deal with France, a charge the government has denied.

On the other hand, the BJP-led government has accused the Congress of not doing much for HAL during its rule and asserted that the government now was trying to strengthen the defence public sector undertaking.

Patel's attack comes a day after Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged that defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman 'lied' to Parliament that government orders worth Rs 1 lakh crore were provided to HAL, while demanding that she should either place the documents in support of her statement in the House or resign.

Sitharaman hit back at the allegation, saying it was a matter of 'shame' that the Congress chief was 'misleading' the country, without fully understanding the issue.