New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi got fresh cannon fodder to target the government over the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale deal with France on Friday. Gandhi tweeted an Indian Express report which alleged that Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Entertainment jointly produced a film with then French President Francois Hollande’s partner Julie Gayet even as negotiations between India and France over Rafale deal were underway.
Reacting to the report, Rahul Gandhi said Rafale travels far and fast and now it will drop bombs in the next few weeks -implying the latest report is going to create a lot of controversy in the upcoming weeks.
“Globalised corruption. This Rafale aircraft really does fly far and fast! It’s also going to drop some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks. Modi Ji please tell Anil, there is a big problem in France,” the Congress President tweeted.
The Rafale agreement was signed between the then French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 26, 2016. Just two days before that Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Entertainment said it signed an agreement with Gayet’s firm, Rogue International, to jointly produce a French film -Tout La-Haut.
Later Ambani-owned Reliance Defence was selected as offset partner in Rs 59,000 crore deal. According to the offset clause in the deal, France is supposed to invest 50 per cent of the deal cost back in local contracts. Congress-led opposition has often questioned how Reliance Defence -a company with no prior experience in defence manufacturing -was selected as the offset partner.
It is to be noted that Anil Ambani led Reliance Infrastructure sent legal notices to several Congress leaders asking them to “cease and desist” from making accusations against Reliance in the Rafale deal or face legal action.
Prasanta Patnaik