Rahul questions PM’s ‘silence’ over Hollande’s remarks on Rafale

23/09/2018

New Delhi, Sep 22: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being "corrupt", saying former French president Francois Hollande's remarks on Reliance Defence shows "clear cut" corruption in the Rafale deal. Questioning Modi's "silence" on the issue, he said the prime minister should come clean on the charge of favouring Reliance Defence in the deal.
"It is the question of dignity of his office" and he should speak up on what Hollande has said, Gandhi said. He demanded that there be a probe by a joint parliamentary committee, in which Hollande can be called, for truth to come out.
"Now, what the ex-President of France is saying is that the Prime Minister of India is a 'thief'. That is what this (Hollande's) statement is saying," he said.
"It is very important for the Prime Minister of India now to either accept MrHollande's statement and say 'Yes, it is the truth Mr Narendra Modi gave the Rafale contract in Rs 30,000 crore to Mr Anil Ambani', or 'MrHollande is not telling the truth and here is the truth'," Gandhi told a press conference.
Soon after, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned as "shameful and irresponsible" Gandhi's remarks against Modi, saying no president of any party in independent India has ever used such language against a prime minister.
The Congress chief's sharp attack on Modi came a day after 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 Rs 58,000 crore fighter jet deal.
"It is very important that the Prime Minister makes it very clear what his position is. It is the question of the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister, it is the question, it is a defence related question, it is the question of future of our jawans, the future of our soldiers, the future of our Air Force.
"What I am surprised by is that the Prime Minister is completely silent - not one word has come out of the prime minister's mouth about this comment," Gandhi said, adding that the claims made are by none other than a former president, who had a "one to one" meeting with Modi where the Rafale contract was decided.
To a question, Gandhi alleged that it "is very clear there is clear cut corruption in the Rafale deal. There is cent per cent corruption in the Rafale deal. He said the decision was taken by the prime minister and the benefit went to the person who travelled with his delegation, it is now up to Prime Minister of India to clear his name".
"We are absolutely convinced that the Prime Minister of India is corrupt. This question is now clearly settled into the minds of the Indian people that the country's watchman is a thief," Gandhi alleged.
Demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Rafale deal, he said, Finance Minister "ArunJaitley has written a very good blog, but when it came to the JPC demand, he went silent. Let there be a JPC, we can call Hollande also in it and everything will be known."
Hitting back at Prasad, Congress chief spokesperson RandeepSurjewala said "obfuscation, subterfuge and smokescreens" would not cover the "tracks of corruption" and the "house of lies and pack of canards" would not derail the truth.
"Faced with truth on Rafale scam, Modiji's 'court jesters and pack of liars' are deeply unnerved, agitated and frustrated. Abuse and subterfuge are the only weapons left in the armoury of the 'house of lies'.
"A peeved and flummoxed Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who has been a counsel for Anil Ambani in the past, dished out a cacophony of slander and calumny to vent out his frustration and has tied himself in knots in verbal diarrhea of lies," he said.
Hollande, in a French publication 'Mediapart' was quoted as saying, "It was Indian government that proposed this service group, and Dassault which negotiated with Ambani. We had no choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us."
The French government Friday said it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the Rafale fighter jet deal, asserting that French companies have the full freedom to select Indian firms for the contract.
On France's stand, Gandhi said it is very clear it has given a statement which is stating what the procedure is.
"Here, there was a one-on-one meeting between the Prime Minister of India and the then President of France. In that meeting, the contract was signed and the ex-President of France has now said that in that meeting, I was clearly told that the contract had to go to Mr Anil Ambani," Gandhi alleged.
Under attack over the allegations, the government Saturday said it had "no role" in the selection of Reliance Defence as an offset partner of Dassault Aviation.
Dassault, the makers of Rafale, had chosen Reliance Defence as its partner to fulfil offset obligations of the deal. The government has been maintaining it did not have any role in selection of the offset partner by Dassault.
Earlier, Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Modi and Anil Ambani jointly carried out aRs 130,000 crore "surgical strike" on the defence forces.
"The PM and Anil Ambani jointly carried out a One Hundred & Thirty Thousand Crore, SURGICAL STRIKE on the Indian Defence forces. ModiJi you dishonoured the blood of our martyred soldiers. Shame on you. You betrayed India's soul," he tweeted.

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