The Congress claimed on Wednesday that the fresh documents, appeared in media on Rafale, have reinforced the that Prime Minister Narendra Modi facilitated a sweetheart deal with Dassault Aviation to “illegitimately” benefit “crony friend” Reliance Defence.
‘Indefensible scam’
Party’s media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said the scam is getting murkier and muddier by the day. “The BJP which is running helter-skelter and throwing all kinds of inconsumable alibis to defend the indefensible, will have to be accountable for the biggest defence scam that has hit the country,” he said.
He said the new set of documents reveal the truth of ₹30,000 crore offset contract and a ₹1,00,000 crore life-cycle cost contract to Modi’s ‘friend’ Anil Ambani’s company. He said the deal between Dassault Aviation and Reliance Defence was a ‘compensation’ brokered by Modi government.
Surjewala said the BJP claimed that Dassault Aviation was free to choose its offset partner, when former French President Francois Hollande said Reliance was the offset partner alloted to them. “If Dassault Aviation willingly agreed to partner with Reliance Defence, why was it called an inevitable compensation? Was it not deliberate squandering of HAL’s interests?” he asked.