Rafale deal row: India-France joint statement states 36 aircraft to be of same configuration, says Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi continued his tirade against the BJP government over the Rafale deal as he furnished excerpts of India-France joint statement that the ‘configuration would be the same as tested by the IAF’.

Accusing PM Modi of lying and alleging that the deal was signed to benefit Reliance group chairman Anil Ambani, Gandhi produced an India-France joint statement released during the PM’s visit to France when he had signed the deal.


“The India-France joint statement clearly states that the 36 aircraft in question will be of the same configuration. Now, the prime minister says that the configuration is different. So the man is lying,” Gandhi said reading out the statement.

The Congress leader also alleged that the negotiated price of the Rafale fighter jet was higher than what was negotiated by the UPA. “Why was an aircraft that was for Rs 520 crore be bought for Rs 1,600 crore,” he asked.

Taking on Ambani over the defamation suit, Gandhi said: “Slap as many defamation suits as you want, but the truth remains that just as demonetisation was done to help the prime minister’s crony capitalist friends, the Rafale deal was done to benefit Anil Ambani’s group.”

Gandhi, who had challenged the government to form a JPC to probe the Rafale deal, countered finance minister Arun Jaitley’s attack in a blog and posed three questions to him. “Arun Jaitley ji writes such long blogs. I just want to tell him that I am ready to answer all your questions but you should reply to mine too…Anil Ambani never made an aircraft. He is under a debt of Rs 45,000 crore and had opened a company just a few days before the Rafale deal. HAL has been making aircraft for 70 years. What is the deal between Anil Ambani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he asked.