New Delhi, dhns: Hitting back on Rahul Gandhi after his fresh offensive on Rafale, the BJP on Saturday alleged that the Congress president was “playing into the hands of China and Pakistan” in insisting on disclosure of all details.
To counter Rahul’s charge that Reliance Defence was made by an offset partner of Dassault and the Modi government favoured Anil Ambani’s company, Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad cited a news report of 2012 that said that a defence pact between Dassault and Reliance was in the offing that year.
“There is contemporaneous evidence that a proper MoU existed between Dassault and Reliance industry as early as on February 13, 2013, one year four months before we came to power. That time Rahul Gandhi’s party was in power.
“ In 2012, when Dassault signed the agreement with Reliance, the company was led by Mukesh Ambani. Anil Ambani is his younger brother. Whatever happened between the two brothers is their matter,” Prasad said.
Prasad rejected Rahul's fresh demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Rafale deal saying, “you do not set up JPC or CAG probe merely to satisfy the ego of an arrogant and ill-informed leader who repeats lies after lies and then runs away.”
“Rahul Gandhi is playing into the hands of enemies of India by insisting to disclose all details of Rafale. Rahul is helping Pakistan,” he said.
Seeking to discredit Hollande's claim, who had said that the Indian government has proposed Reliance as an offset partner, Prasad flagged that French journalists have spoken about his "conflict of interests.
Prasad said the UPA government terminated negotiations with Dassault after "extraneous considerations" put out by it were not met.
Speaking in Uttar Pradesh, Home Minister Rajnath Singh advised Rahul not to make allegations against the government on the Rafale issue without proof. ” It is my understanding that all accusations are completely baseless, were always so and will remain baseless,” he said.