Hollande interview over Rafale escalates into bitter Cong-BJP war of words : The Tribune India

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Hollande interview over Rafale escalates into bitter Cong-BJP war of words

NEW DELHI: Former French president Francois Hollande’s explosive interview over the controversial Rafale deal stirred up the hornet''s nest on Saturday, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and rival Congress using harsh words to take on the other over a controversy that remains prime focus less than a year before the country goes to polls.

Hollande interview over Rafale escalates into bitter Cong-BJP war of words

Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressing a press conference on Rafale deal at AICC headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui



Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 22

After former French president Francois Hollande’s explosive interview dropped a bombshell on an already roiling Rafale controversy, both ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and rival Congress addressed a series of press conferences on Saturday in a bitter escalation of an issue that remains prime focus less than a year before general elections.  

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said there was “clear-cut” corruption in the Rafale deal and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clear his position on the issue.

Gandhi's blistering attack on Modi during a press conference came a day after former French president Francois Hollande was quoted as saying that the Indian government proposed Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence as Dassault Aviation’s Indian partner in the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale jet fighter deal.

The prime minister must clear his stand on the Rafale deal after Hollande's remarks, he said.

"Why is the prime minister silent? It is a matter related to defence forces, it is a matter related to corruption," he said.

He also claimed that various defence ministers of the NDA government have been lying to protect Modi.

Gandhi demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe and Hollande can also be called.

“We are absolutely convinced that the prime minister is corrupt... He must clarify,” Gandhi said.

“It is very important for the prime minister now to either accept Mr. Hollande's statement or state that Mr. Hollande is lying and tell what the truth is,” he said.

BJP strikes back

Hours after Gandhi’s press conference, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, a union minister, hit back saying he expected “nothing better: from a leader whose family was the “source of all corruption” in the country.

Addressing a press conference of his own, Prasad said neither the country nor the world would believe the things the Congress leader said about “India’s most popular Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an epitome of honesty”. He even went so far as accusing

Rahul Gandhi of playing into hands of Pakistan by asking for complete details of the deal.

Prasad said negotiations between Dassault and Reliance Industries dated back to February 13, 2002. Prasad said: “What happened later between the two brothers ( Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani) we do not know but there is contemporary evidence of MoU between Reliance Industries and Dassault”.

The two Ambani brothers split in 2006, after which Mukesh Ambani came to head Reliance Industries Limited.

 “This is the most shameful and irresponsible statement which is not believed by anyone in the country or world. But by levelling these allegations you (Rahul) Gandhi have smeared black paint on your face,” Prasad said.

He claimed Gandhi “had no quality or capability” and held on to power because of his family connections. “I can understand the pain of Rahul Gandhi and company because the corruption has stopped under Narendra Modi and doors are closed for middleman”.

“Nothing better can be expected from a person charge-sheeted along with his mother in the National Herald case and whose entire family is embroiled in the Bofors case”.

Another press conference, and a video

Within minutes of Prasad’s address, Congress called another press briefing, this time addressed by spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, to dismiss Prasad’s charges as “attempt to cover up” for the central government.

“This is completely false and utter rubbish being dished out by Defence and Law ministries. There was no such contact or MoU between Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance industries or Dassault Aviation. I challenge them to give out the papers if such an understand had taken place. The fact is the understanding had taken place but between Dassault and HAL,” Surjewala said, releasing a video of Dassault CEO Eric Trappier speaking on March 25, 2015, on the impending contact with HAL.

He called Prasad’s arguments “meaningless”,

“Abuse and subterfuge is the only weapons left in the armour. To vent his frustration and tied himself up in knots in his verbal diarrhea (sic),” he said, adding that the “country was watching closely”.

‘Surgical strikes’

Taking to Twitter earlier in the day, Gamdhi called Reliance Defence’s involvement in the deal “surgical strike” on the country’s defence forces.

 “The PM and Anil Ambani jointly carried out a One Hundred & Thirty Thousand Crore SURGICAL STRIKE on the Indian Defence forces. Modi Ji you dishonoured the blood of our martyred soldiers. Shame on you. You betrayed India’s soul,” Gandhi tweeted.

The report in ‘Mediapart’, a French language publication, quoted Hollande as saying recently: “It was the Indian government that proposed this service group, and Dassault which negotiated with Ambani. We had no choice; we took the interlocutor who was given to us”.

Modi had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after holding talks with then French president Hollande on April 10, 2015, in Paris. The opposition party has been accusing the government of choosing Reliance Defence over state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to benefit the private firm even though it didn’t have any experience in the aerospace sector.

Hollande’s remarks contradict the central government’s stand that Dassault chose Reliance Defence as an Indian partner to fulfil its offset obligations and that the establishment had nothing to do with it.

‘No role’

The Centre said it had "no role" in Dassault’s deal with Reliance Defence.

The Defence Ministry said "unnecessary controversies" are being sought to be created following media reports regarding a statement purportedly made by Hollande concerning the selection of Reliance Defence as the offset partner by Dassault Aviation, the manufacturers of Rafale aircraft.

"The government has stated earlier and again reiterates that it had no role in the selection of Reliance Defence as the Offset partner," the ministry said. With PTI

 

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