Rafale deal : Francois Hollande stands by his statement
New Delhi, Sept 22 (IBNS) : FrancoisHollande, the former French president who dropped a bombshell on Friday by saying that the India government proposed Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence as the India partner for the 36 Rafale jets deal, has told NDTV that he stands by his statement.
His comment comes after the French government and Dassault Aviation, the maker of the Rafale jet, contradicted his statement in a steady bout of claims and counter-claims over the Rafale deal that has snowballed in India into a major issue.
Earlier on Friday, French journal Mediapart had quoted Francois Hollande as saying: "We did not have a say in this... the Indian government proposed this service group and Dassault negotiated with (Anil) Ambani group. We did not have a choice, we took the partner who was given to us."
Rahul tweeted, "The PM and Anil Ambani jointly carried out a One Hundred & Thirty Thousand Crore, SURGICAL STRIKE on the Indian Defence forces. Modi Ji you dishonoured the blood of our martyred soldiers. Shame on you. You betrayed India's soul. "
CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury also the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre of having an involvement in the alleged corruption.
Yechury took to Twitter to say, "Modi govt scrapped the 126 aircraft deal (with only 18 aircraft to be built in France) with a deal where 36 would be built there (Hollande acknowledges that as a “good thing”). It then asked the French to choose a crony friend of Modi: Crystal-clear case of corruption & cronyism".
The Anil Ambani-led group is manufacturing aerospace components as part of the offset component of the Rafale deal. The clause requires Rafale manufacturer Dassault to ensure that business worth around Rs. 30,000 crores is generated for the Indian defence system. Reliance Defence is not making components for the Rafales ordered by India but is building assemblies for Dassault business jets.
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