Rahul Gandhi

“Not one word has come out from the PM’s mouth on this. This is from a President of France, who had a one-to-one meeting with PM where the Rafale deal was decided,” he said, referring to Hollande’s remarks.

Modi had announced the deal to buy 36 Rafale jets after holding talks with then French president Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris.

The Congress president said Modi should clear his stand over the issue. “We are absolutely convinced that PM of India is corrupt. I’m trying to help him protect his office,” he said. “A joint parliamentary committee should be formed for the truth to come out,” Gandhi added.

Home minister Rajnath Singh said verification of the French media report will reveal the truth. “One should think before levelling any baseless allegation. One should not make allegations without proof,” Singh said in reaction to Gandhi’s remarks.

Accusing Gandhi of helping Pakistan, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked why Gandhi was “playing into the hands of the enemy” by insisting the government disclose details of the weapons system.

Prasad called the Gandhi family the “source of corruption” in the country, and alleged that the UPA government had decided to re-examine the Rafale deal in 2012 because the company had refused to pay bribe.

He called Gandhi’s attack on the Prime Minister “shameful and irresponsible”. “What else can you expect from someone who has become president of the Congress party not because of his capabilities, but because of his dynasty,” Prasad said.

Let me reiterate, Prasad said, each aircraft minus the weapon is 9% cheaper than the rate negotiated by the UPA and the fully loaded aircraft is 20% cheaper.

Hollande’s comments published on Friday contradict the government’s position that it had nothing to do with Dassault Aviation selecting Reliance Defence. This has also been Ambani’s position on the matter.

Within hours of the French website publishing the story, a defence ministry spokesperson tweeted: “The report referring to fmr French president Mr. Hollande’s statement that GOI insisted upon a particular firm as offset partner for the Dassault Aviation in Rafale is being verified. It is reiterated that neither GoI nor French Govt had any say in the commercial decision.”

NDTV later reported that Hollande’s office said he stood by his remarks made to Mediapart.

The NDA government’s decision to enter the government-togovernment deal with France to buy 36 Rafale warplanes made by Dassault was announced in April 2015, with an agreement signed a little over a year later. This replaced the previous United Progressive Alliance regime’s decision to buy 126 Rafale aircraft, 108 of which were to be made in India by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

The deal has become controversial with the Opposition, led by the Congress, claiming that the price at which India is buying Rafale aircraft now is Rs 1,670 crore for each, three times the Rs 526 crore, the initial bid by the company when the UPA was trying to buy the aircraft. It has also claimed the previous deal included a technology transfer agreement with HAL.

The controversy is also regarding the offset deals signed by Dassault with the Reliance Group of Anil Ambani. The Congress claims the earlier deal was scrapped and a new one signed just to provide Ambani this opportunity. Both the government and Reliance have repeatedly denied this. The government has also said the two deals are not comparable, that cost- and timing-issues would have ensured the older deal never closed, and that the planes it has ordered come with customised weaponry. It has, however, declined to provide the exact costs, citing a confidentiality agreement with France, and security concerns.

T Suvarna Raju, who was heading HAL till three weeks ago, told HT on September 19 that the public sector undertaking could have built Rafale fighters in India had the government managed to close the original negotiations with Dassault, and that there was a work-share agreement between the two companies. However, he admitted that it would have cost HAL more to make the aircraft.

Raju’s statements became the basis for a sharper attack by the Congress, with party chief Gandhi demanding defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s resignation for “lying” about the capability of HAL to build the fighter aircraft and the latter claiming the Congress-led UPA was responsible for HAL’s decline, and that the decision to drop the state-owned aircraft maker from the deal was taken during the UPA’s rule.