Rahul fires fresh salvo at PM Modi on Rafale deal

Amethi (UP), September 24

Firing fresh salvo at the Prime Minister on the Rafale deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday charged country’s “chowkidar” Narendra Modi with snatching away money from the poor and handing it over to industrialist Anil Ambani.

He asked the Prime Minister for answers on why Rafale price was not disclosed and how Ambani got the contract.

“The chowkidar of the country has taken out Rs 20,000 crore from the pockets of the poor, martyrs and the jawans and put it in the pocket of Ambani,” Gandhi said at a meeting in the Jais area of his constituency.

The Congress chief arrived here on a two-day visit, the first after his Kailash Mansarover pilgrimage, and said the people of the country wants to know the amount involved in the Rafale deal.

“Why was the price not disclosed...how was the contract given to Ambani... serious charges have been levelled by former French president Francois Hollande,” he said.

Recalling that during a debate in Parliament on Rafale deal, “The Prime Minister could not look me in the eye. The PM gives speeches but no answers... he does not have the courage to give reply.”

“Under the BJP government, the farmers and poor are crying... the present government is providing all benefits to a selected five to ten people,” he said, adding people like Anil Ambani, Vijay Mallaya and Lalit Modi are getting all benefits.

The Reliance Group, in a statement quoting Ambani’s letter to Congress president Rahul Gandhi last month, had said, “Allegations of Reliance benefitting by thousands of crores is a figment of imagination, promoted by vested interests.” “Simply put, no contract exists with the Government of India.”

French company Dassault, which is supplying the fighter jets, has entered into a joint venture with the Reliance Group to meet its offset obligations to create business for Indian firms, following the Rafale deal. PTI