Congress along with its President went on offensive ranting against the BJP in general and Narendra Modi in particular over the Govt to Govt Rafale deal of 2016, in the hope that something will stick on
Then came a twisted concocted statement of the ex President of France who is himself under cloud.
After explosive claims by Francois Hollande, aviation major Dassault had said that it had chosen Reliance Defence and it stands by the decision.
But why exactly did it choose a new comer into defence manufacturing with no prior knowledge about aircraft production is still not clear.
One reason, may be that that Reliance Defence ‘had land in Nagpur, which provided access to runway’ and was registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Also Reliance Defence has already manufactured two state of Art Naval OPVs which are undergoing pre commission trials. Three more are under construction for the Navy.
Then it has orders for 7 OPVs for the Indian Coast Guard. It has also signed a deal to repair ships of US Navy’s Indo Pacific fleet.
Dassault Aviation started talking to Anil Ambani only after they got to know about transfer of Reliance Defence’s control from elder brother Mukesh Ambani to him. This was months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Rafale deal in 2015.
The latest revelation comes after the clarification issued by the aviation major where it said that the government-to-government contract between India and France was separate from its negotiations with Reliance Defence.
“This offsets contract is delivered in compliance with the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 regulations. In this framework, and in accordance with the policy of Make in India, Dassault Aviation has decided to make a partnership with India’s Reliance Group. This is Dassault Aviation’s choice…,” the clarification said.
The Congress sought to raise the pitch over the Rafale deal by approaching corruption watchdog Central Vigilance Commission, prompting the Narendra Modi government to launch a counter-attack.
The ruling BJP said it will fight the “perception battle” by reaching out to the people of the country, as it called the campaign against the efforts to acquire the French warplanes an international conspiracy.
While Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that that the facts will be put on record, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the Congress campaign is an international conspiracy to cancel the purchase deal of 36 fighter jets from France.
