Congress president Rahul Gandhi today again repeated his charge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi benefited industrialist Anil Ambani in the Rafale jet deal. "Anil Ambani, who met the French defence minister, mentioned an MoU he is looking forward to sign after the Indian prime minister's visit to France. This is a breach of the official secrets act... the PM is the only other person who knows about this... in fact Anil Ambani opened his company after this meeting," he said.
The BJP dismissed the allegations as height of shamelessness and irresponsibility on the part of the Congress president, and asserted that the e-mail he cited to criticise the prime minister referred to some chopper deal and not the purchase of the fighter aircraft. "He (Rahul Gandhi) has thrown muck at his own face by abusing our honest prime minister... We will expose his lies before the public," Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Mr Gandhi's scathing attack on PM Modi on the Rafale fighter jet deal comes a day after repeating his allegation of corruption in the 36-jet deal. "The Prime Minister became prime minister saying he will fight corruption. Have you read today's Hindu? It is very clear in today's (Monday's) Hindu article that the PM removed the anti-corruption clause. Every defence deal has an anti-corruption clause," he said after meeting Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who was on a day-long fast in the capital.
The Congress alleges that the government finalised an overpriced deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets at an inflated price to benefit Anil Ambani, whose inexperienced defence firm was recommended as an offset partner for Dassault, the company manufacturing the aircraft. Both Dassault and the government have denied the allegations.
Disclaimer: NDTV has been sued for 10,000 crores by Anil Ambani's Reliance Group for its coverage of the Rafale deal
