'PM personally changed Rafale deal behind closed doors'

New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi went for the jugular against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over former French President Francois Hollande's revelations that India had proposed Anil Ambani's defence company as the offset partner for the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

“Thanks to François Hollande, we now know he personally delivered a deal worth billions of dollars to a bankrupt Anil Ambani,” Rahul said on Twitter as the Congress raised storm by echoing his – 'chowkidar chor hai' – remarks made at a rally in Rajasthan on Thursday.

“The PM personally negotiated & changed the Rafale deal behind closed doors. … The PM has betrayed India. He has dishonoured the blood of our soldiers,” the Congress president said.

Adding fuel to the ongoing controversy over Rafale deal, Hollande was quoted by a French media outlet as saying that the Indian government gave him no choice on selecting the offset partner for Rafale deal.

“We did not have a say in that. The Indian government proposed this service group, and Dassault negotiated with Ambani,” Hollande was quoted as saying.
“Cat’s out of the Bag!!! Complicity, collusion & conspiracy of Modi government in denying the HAL a Rs 30,000 crore ‘offset contract’ to benefit PM’s crony friend exposed,” said Randeep Surjewala, in-charge of the AICC Communication Department.