Rahul ups attack, reaches out to HAL staff

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday described HAL as a “strategic asset” in aerospace, saying the country owed a debt to it, as he stepped up his campaign against the Narendra Modi government over the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Reaching out to present and former employees of the defence PSU at an interaction with them here, the Congress president said, work done by HAL was tremendous and the country owed debt to it for “protecting us” and creating a scientific vision. “....HAL is a strategic asset in aerospace, not an ordinary or regular company,” he said at the event organised at Minsk Square near the HAL head quarters.

He said he was interacting with the employees to understand how to make “this strategic asset” (HAL) more effective “so that when we come to power, we will do it more aggressively.” Rahul Gandhi’s interaction is part of his onslaught against the Modi government over the Rafale deal in which he alleges HAL had been overlooked in the offsets contracts with French aerospace company Dassault Aviation preferring Anil Ambani’s company.

The Congress, which has been accusing the government of benefiting the Reliance Defence Ltd of Anil Ambani from the deal, has been demanding answers on why the state-run aerospace major HAL was not involved in the deal as finalised during the UPA. The party had been accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of snatching jobs of people of Karnataka by taking away the contract from HAL.

Rahul Gandhi had been saying had HAL been selected in place of Reliance Defence it could have generated employment to scores of unemployed youth in the state.