Clear- cut corruption, says Rahul
Says that Hollande’s remarks shows ‘ clear cut’ corruption in Rafale jet deal
A day after former French President Francois Hollande claimed that the Indian government had chosen Reliance Defence the Indian partner for the Rafale jet deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that the French leader’s remarks showed “clear cut” corruption in the defence deal and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” on the issue.
Asking the PM to come clean on allegations of favouring Reliance Defence as “it is a question of dignity of his office”, Mr Gandhi said, “Former French President calls our PM a thief. What is staggering is that the PM is silent. Not a single word from him. It is very important for the PM now to either accept Mr Hollande’s statement or state that Mr Hollande is lying and tell what the truth is.”
A day after former French President Francois Hollande claimed that the Indian government had chosen Reliance Defence the Indian partner for the Rafale jet deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that the French leader’s remarks showed “clear cut” corruption in the defence deal and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” on the issue.
Asking the Prime Minister to come clean on allegations of favouring Reliance Defence as “It is a question of dignity of his office”, Mr Gandhi said, “Former French President calls our PM a thief. What is staggering is that the PM is still silent on it. It is very important for the PM now to either accept Mr Hollande’s statement or state that Mr Hollande is lying and tell ( us) what the truth is.” Claiming that there is “clear- cut corruption” in the Rafale deal, Mr Gandhi told reporters, “It is now up to the Prime Minister to clear his name. We are absolutely convinced that the Prime Minister is corrupt. This question is now clearly settled in the minds of the Indian people that - the country’s watchman is a thief.”
The Congress chief's blistering attack on Mr Modi came a day after Mr Hollande was quoted as saying by French media that the Indian government proposed Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault
Aviation in the ` 58,000 crore Rafale jet fighter deal. Mr Gandhi claimed that various defence ministers of the NDA government have been lying to protect Mr Modi and reiterated the Congress’ demand for constituting a Joint Parliamentary Committee ( JPC) on the procurement of Rafale fighter jets. He further added that, if need be, the JPC can also call the former French President.
Earlier, the Congress president had alleged that Mr Modi and Anil Ambani jointly carried out a ` 130,000 crore “surgical strike” on India’s defence forces.
“The PM and Anil Ambani jointly carried out a one hundred and 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,” he tweeted.