Rafale deal biggest example of crony capitalism: Cong

The Congress on Friday trashed denials of Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with documents to show how they promoted ‘crony capitalism’ in the Rs 60,145crore Rafale aircraft deal which it dubbed as ‘mother of all defence scams.’

Sitharaman has been denying the “offset contract” of Rs 30,000 crore bagged by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence Limited from Dassault Aviation, the French manufacturer of the fighter jet, while the fact is that it rather also bagged another ‘lifecycle cost contract’ of Rs 1 lakh crore. As a proof the Congress circulated two press releases of Reliance and the annual report of Dassault.

Flashing Sitharaman’s claim in a PIB press note on February 7 that the ‘offset contract has not been awarded,’ Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala asked, "Who is lying – the defence minister or Reliance/Dassault Aviation?"

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here along with party MPs Naseer Husain and Ameer Yajnik, he said the contract itself is violation of the government’s defence offset contract guidelines and grant of an industrial licence for category A high security defence production to Reliance without land or building is itself dubious.

The three leaders drew attention to the telltale dates showing ‘crony capitalism’ that Reliance Defence Limited was constituted on March 28, 2015, 12 days before the PM announced purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft in France on April 10, 2015, and Reliance Aerostructure Limited incorporated even later on

Congress dubs the deal as ‘mother of all defence scams’

April 24, 2015 was granted an industrial licence to manufacture the fighter aircraft by the Commerce Ministry only on February 22, 2016 when Sitharaman was the commerce minister.

Surjewala said Reliance Aerostructure had given its plant address in village Lunsapur of Amreli district in Gujarat in its application for the licence, though it did not own land or building at that address even on the day it got the licence.

The Reliance Aerostructure was allotted 104 acres in Mihan SEZ, Nagpur, on August 28, 2015, but it eventually paid Rs 63 crore only in July 2017. How can a company be granted an industrial licence without verification of its premises. NEW DELHI: The BJP on Friday dismissed the Congress' fresh attack on the Modi government over the Rafale deal, saying it is repeating same claims in frustration after its allegations were "proved" wrong by Union ministers and also the French government.

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi also took potshots at the Congress over its attempt to build an alliance against the ruling bloc, saying its president Rahul Gandhi first claimed to be prime ministerial candidate and is now willing to support any candidate for the negative agenda of defeating Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP wants a 'majboot' (strong) govt under Modi while opposition parties like Mayawati-led BSP want a 'majboor' (helpless) government, he said.