BIDAR: Signalling that the controversial Rafale aircraft deal will be one of the major poll planks of the Congress party in the next Lok Sabha polls, party president Rahul Gandhi on Monday ratcheted up his criticism of the Prime Minister over alleged corruption in the Rafale deal, and dared him to a debate.
He claimed Narendra Modi will not be able to answer his questions on the issue "even for a second".
"If you have the guts, bring your 56 inch Prime Minister to a forum anywhere. I promise you that I will defeat him in a fraction of a second because he (PM Modi) is not the 'chowkidar' of the country as he claims, but the 'bhagidaar'(partner) in the Rafale deal signed with the French government," he thundered. Launching the 'Jana Dhwani Yatre' to kickstart the campaign for the Lok Sabha election, Mr Gandhi accused the PM of depriving unemployed engineers of job opportunities by signing a deal with the French to manufacture the aircraft in France instead of India.
"If the contract was awarded to HAL, many unemployed youth would have got jobs. On the contrary the contract has been awarded to industrialist Mr Anil Ambani, who has virtually no experience in the field." Mr Gandhi explained. "Narendra Modi favoured his friend Anil Ambani, whose company was born 10 days before the contract was signed," Gandhi said, addressing a public rally in Bidar.
The Ambani group, which has been in the eye of a raging political storm over the fighter jet deal, had yesterday denied receiving any contract from the Defence Ministry and said "unfounded and incorrect" allegations were being made to "mislead people and cloud the issue". Answering questions ranging from lack of experience to state-owned HAL being overlooked for the deal, the group said Dassault, the French firm that is to supply 36 Rafale fighter jets, chose Reliance Defence Ltd to meet its 'offset' or export obligation in the contract and that the defence ministry had no role in the selection of Indian partners by foreign vendors.
Gandhi said the previous UPA government had signed the contract so the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited could make the aircraft through technology transfer and create employment for the youth of Karnataka. "One day Narendra Modi goes to France and changes the terms of the contract. My dear young people, Modiji has taken away your jobs from you. If he has the guts, a 56-inch chest, bring your (the BJP's) prime Minister in front of me, in front of the country...Why is he silent? Why is he scared? Why is he running away? Why is he not answering my questions looking into my eyes?.....Because chowkidar (the watchman) has become bhagidar (collaborator)," he said.
India had inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September last year for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore. Gandhi has been repeatedly alleging that the cost of Rafale jets was inflated under the new terms of the contract. He also accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of "lying" when she said the new price of the fighter aircraft could not be disclosed due to a secrecy clause in the contract. "I met the French prime minister and he said there was no secrecy clause in the contract. Manmohan Singh (former prime minister) and Anand Sharma (Congress leader) were present," he said.
