Rafale defence deal: Anil Ambani writes to Rahul Gandhi, rubbishes allegations

Rubbishing the allegations levelled by Congress president Rahul Gandhi that the joint venture between Dassault and Reliance Defence was okayed by the Centre despite the latter not having any expertise in defence manufacturing, Anil Ambani allegedly wrote a detailed letter to Gandhi explaining the rationale behind the contract. Congress in-charge for Uttarakhand Anugrah Narayan Singh on Wednesday alleged that the Modi-government has done a favour to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group through the Rafale jet fighter deal. India suffered major loss in the deal, he told reporters here.

Dassault Aviation has picked the Ambani firm to fulfil India’s offset regulations, which require foreign manufacturers to bring business to local firms when defence agreements are signed. In a letter to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Ambani has said his group’s joint venture with Dassault to build defence and aerospace components was a deal between two private sector entities. “The French and the Indian government had no role to play in it,” the letter said.

But taking a dig at Modi, Singh made a reference to the prime minister’s recent speech in Parliament in which he described himself as a stakeholder in the development of the poor. “It seems the PM did not find anyone poorer than Anil Ambani in the country,” Singh said.

Singh claimed that the price of each Rafale aircraft has risen to about Rs 1,600 crore in the new deal vis- -vis Rs 526 crore in the agreement signed when the Congress-led UPA was in power.

The Modi government has refused to divulge the price of the 36 fighters it is buying from the French firm, citing a secrecy clause in the agreement.

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“The Rafale deal was detrimental to the interest of Government of India undertaking HAL, the Congress leader claimed, arguing that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited would have got the responsibility of technology transfer under the original agreement.

Source: DNA India