Cong asks Modi to come clean, BJP calls him symbol of honesty

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 22

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi today alleged that former French President Francois Hollande’s remarks on Reliance Defence showed “clear-cut corruption” in the Rafale deal even as the BJP maintained it did not know under what compulsion the statement was made.

Questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” on the issue, Rahul asked him to come clean on the allegations of favouring the Anil Ambani-led company as the offset partner and demanded that there be a probe by a joint parliamentary committee, in which Hollande could be called so that the “truth” came out.

Reiterating that PM Modi was a “thief” and that Hollande too had “intended the same”, the Congress president said it was important for the PM to either accept the foreign leader’s statement or state that he was “lying”. “For the first time, a former French President is calling our Prime Minister a ‘thief’. It is a question of the PMO’s dignity. It is a question of the future of our jawans and the Air Force,” said Rahul. 

Hitting back, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called Rahul’s remarks as “shameful” and “dubbed” PM Modi as a “symbol of honesty”. “We expect nothing better from an ill-informed and corrupt leader (Gandhi) whose family was the source of all corruption in the country. Neither the country nor the world will believe what he said about India's most popular Prime Minister."

Prasad went to the extent of accusing Gandhi of playing into hands of Pakistan by asking for complete details of the jet deal. 

Hollande has been quoted as saying that the Indian Government proposed Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence as Dassault Aviation's partner in the Rs-58,000 crore Rafale deal. While Rahul said the government had never in its statements denied Hollande's claim, Prasad claimed negotiations between Dassault and Reliance dated back to February 2012. "What happened later between the two brothers (Mukesh and Anil Ambani) we do not know, but there is contemporary evidence of MoU between Reliance Industries and Dassault," he said. 

Minutes later, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala challenged the BJP to make public the so-called 2012 agreement. "This is something completely false being dished out by the Law Minister. There was no such contract or MoU between Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries or Dassault Aviation. The fact is an understanding had taken place, but between Dassault and HAL," Surjewala said, releasing a video of Dassault CEO Eric Trappier speaking on March 25, 2015 (days before the April 2015 announcement of Rafale purchase) about the impending contract with HAL. 

Rafale row: Hollande stands by comment

AFP reported that former French President Francois Hollande said on the sidelines of a meeting in Canada on Friday that France “did not choose Reliance in any way”. On pressure by India, Hollande said he was unaware and “only Dassault can comment on this”. 

It is very important for the PM now to either accept Hollande’s statement and say ‘Yes, it is the truth’ or ‘Mr Hollande is not telling the truth and here is the truth—Rahul Gandhi, Cong Chief

Nothing better can be expected from a person chargesheeted along with his mother (Sonia Gandhi) in National Herald case and whose entire family is embroiled in Bofors scam. —Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Law Minister