In France for a three-day visit, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today refuted Congress allegations that she has gone on a cover-up exercise and insisted that the government had no part in the selection of Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence as a joint venture partner in the Rafale deal. It was choice of the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), in this case Dassault, whom they want as their offset partner, she said. "It is a government to government agreement between the French and Indian governments and there is no name mentioned and this offset obligation maybe mandatory, but the names of the company are not mandatory for me," the minister told NDTV in Paris.
