Rahul Gandhi accuses Indian PM Modi of corruption in Rafale deal, seeks probe
'The Prime Minister of India is corrupt, I want to tell the youth of the nation that he is corrupt'
New Delhi: Firing a fresh salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged on Thursday that he was a "corrupt man" who helped Anil Ambani pocket Rs 30,000 crore in the purchase of the fighter aircraft.
Gandhi demanded an investigation against the prime minister.
The Congress president also described Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's trip to France as part of a "huge cover-up" by the government.
His attack at the government came a press conference following a report in the French media that Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of Rafale, had to choose Ambani's firm Reliance Defence as its offsets partner in India as a trade-off for getting the deal.
The government has been insisting that it had no role in the Dassault's choice of Reliance Defence.
Dassault Aviation said in a statement that it has "freely chosen to make a partnership with India's Reliance Group".
"The Prime Minister of India is corrupt, I want to tell the youth of the nation that he is corrupt," Gandhi said at a special media briefing here.
He also read out excerpts from the report by French website Mediapart, which cited an internal Dassault document, on Wednesday which said that the group accepted to work with Reliance as an "imperative and obligatory" condition for securing the fighter contract.
Dassault is sitting on a huge contract. Dassault will say what the Indian govt wants it to say. Their internal document clearly stated that PM has said without this compensation the deal will not be done: Congress President Rahul Gandhi #RafaleDeal pic.twitter.com/fTYq7bFZ7L
— ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2018
New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday targeted the Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal and alleged that the visit of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to France was in connection with process to justify his decision to purchase the fighter jets.
"The Supreme Court has asked for the Rafale decision-making process. It's quite simple really... The PM decided. The processes to justify his decision are yet to be invented. But work has begun. Ps. In this connection, Raksha Mantri is leaving for France tonight," Gandhi said in a tweet.
Sitharaman left the country on Wednesday on a three-day visit to France.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the government to disclose details of the decision making process for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets in a fly-away condition from France's Dassault Aviation.
The Congress has alleged that Modi government's decision to purchase the fighter jets from France has caused Rs 41,000 crore loss to the exchequer compared to the deal negotiated by the UPA govenrment.