Rafale Deal: Rahul Gandhi attacks PM Modi yet again, questions government's silence on price of jets

Congress president Rahul Gandhi took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi yet again on Friday, highlighting corruption in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Gandhi criticised Modi over the optically dodged Rafale deal, among other ongoing issues.

Hitting out at the Dassault CEO in the year-old Rafale 'scam', the Congress chief said, "Dassault invested Rs 284 Crore in the company of Anil Ambani. Anil Ambani bought land with the same money. This is clear that Dassault CEO is lying. Why did they invest Rs 284 crore in a loss-making company?"

The Gandhi scion dubbed the Rafale deal a PM Modi-Anil Ambani partnership, adding that it is "an open and shut case".

Read | In Vasundhara Raje's bastion, Rahul Gandhi targets PM Modi on Rafale deal

"If an inquiry starts on this Mr Modi is not going to survive it. Guaranteed. One, because of corruption. Two, because it's very clear who the decision maker was...It was Narendra Modi and it was a deal done by Narendra Modi to give Anil Ambani Rs 30,000 crore," Gandhi said.

Stressing on the reasons for which HAL was not given the contract, Gandhi said, it was because "Anil Ambani had land. Now it turns out that the land that Anil Ambani had was purchased by the money given by Dassault".

LIVE: Congress President @RahulGandhi addresses media on Rafale Scam. #RafaleBribeRevealed. https://t.co/a6SZDQrDWf

— Congress (@INCIndia) November 2, 2018

Read | 'Rafale is your right': Rahul Gandhi meets HAL employees in Bengaluru

It’s been a quite long time that the Congress has been alleging massive irregularities in the Rafale deal, saying the government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government when it was negotiating a deal for procurement of 126 Rafale fighter jets.

The Congress has also been targeting the government over the selection of Reliance Defence as an offset partner for Dassault.

The government has vehemently rejected the allegations and asserted that it did not have any role in the selection of Reliance Defence.