NEW DELHI: Former French president Francois Hollande’s comments on the
Rafale deal established that the contract was concluded to benefit industrialist Anil Ambani and amounted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi being a thief, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said here on Saturday.
The leader accused Modi of lying and said Hollande’s statement that Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence was suggested as a partner for the Rafale deal made it imperative for the PM to clear the air. He said it was a question of the dignity of the PM’s office and that a joint parliamentary committee be set up.
“And it is very important for the Prime Minister now to either accept Mr Hollande’s statement and say ‘Yes, it is the truth- Mr Narendra Modi gave the Rafale contract for Rs 30,000 crore to Mr Anil Ambani’, or ‘Mr Hollande is not telling the truth and here is the truth’,” Rahul said.
Rahul reiterated that the current French president Emmanuel Macron had told him in a meeting where former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Anand Sharma were also present that the price of the Rafale jets could be revealed. During the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, Rahul had said that Macron said there was no ‘secrecy clause’ binding the deal.
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Hitting out at the PM for remaining silent, Rahul said, “The youth of India should know that the money is going to Anil Ambani... this a question of future of our jawans, the future of our soldiers, the future of our Air Force,” and added, “We are absolutely convinced that the Prime Minister of India is corrupt.”
The leader accused defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman of first saying the price of the fighter could be revealed and later saying this was not possible on national security grounds.
He reiterated his claim that the cost of the fighter was being negotiated at Rs 526 crore a plane and this escalated three times to Rs 1,600 crore and added that a former Hindustan Aeronautics Limited chief had disputed the government’s view that the public sector firm could not build the fighter. “HAL’s chief said she (Sitharaman) is lying,” he said.
Rahul said Anil Ambani set up a company 10 days before the Rafale contract was finalised and was personally benefitted by the PM.
Hitting out at law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who condemned Rahul’s remarks as “shameful and irresponsible”, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “Faced with truth on Rafale’ scam, Modiji’s ‘court jesters and pack of liars’ are deeply unnerved, agitated and frustrated. Abuse and subterfuge are the only weapons left in the armoury’ of the ‘house of lies’.”