France fears damage as Hollande fans row : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

France fears damage as Hollande fans row

PARIS:The French government said on Sunday it feared damage to its relations with India after former President Francois Hollande stirred controversy about a major deal to sell 36 Rafale fighter jets.

France fears damage as Hollande fans row

Francois Hollande



Paris, September 23

The French government said on Sunday it feared damage to its relations with India after former President Francois Hollande stirred controversy about a major deal to sell 36 Rafale fighter jets.

Hollande, who left office last year, said on Friday that jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation had been given no choice about its local partner in a 2016 deal with the Narendra Modi government.

Dassault announced afterwards it was partnering with  Anil Ambani rather than  public defence conglomerate HAL.

Hollande’s remark that Dassault “did not have a say in it” added fuel to claims that the Modi government had intervened to help Ambani.

“I find these remarks... do not help anyone and above all do not help France,” junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said about Hollande. “Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership by making remarks that cause controversy in India is really not appropriate,” he said. 

Hollande made the comments to defend himself because Reliance had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend in 2016. — AFP

Top News

'When government changes...': Rahul Gandhi after Rs 1,800 crore fresh I-T notice to Congress

'When government changes...': Rahul Gandhi after Rs 1,800 crore fresh I-T notice to Congress

The Congress leader accuses the BJP of indulging in ‘tax ter...

Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in UP's Banda orders judicial inquiry into death of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari

UP court orders judicial probe into gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s death, seeks report in a month

Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari on Tuesday alleged that his brother...

‘Heart attack or poisoning’: The life and times of Mukhtar Ansari—crime and politics

‘Heart attack or poisoning’: The life and times of Mukhtar Ansari—crime and politics

Eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh are among the poorest regions...

CBI files chargesheet against 20 institutes, 105 individuals in Himachal Pradesh multi-crore scholarship scam

CBI files chargesheet against 20 institutes, 105 individuals in Himachal Pradesh multi-crore scholarship scam

22 educational institutions were on CBI radar in the scholar...


Cities

View All