Cong claims HAL asked staff not to meet Rahul

The management of defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) has reportedly asked its employees not to take part in an interaction with Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday.

“The HAL management is trying to prevent the event from happening and has asked its employees not to participate,” said Congress leader and MLC Rizwan Arshad, who is involved in organising Rahul's visit to the city.

Rahul's interaction with HAL employees is seen as a move to muster their support over the controversial Rafale deal, on the back of which the Congress has mounted an attack on the Narendra Modi government. The Congress has accused Modi of striking the deal with France to favour a private company, Reliance Defence, at the cost of the state-run HAL.

The Congress, however, claimed that the interaction was not organised by the party. “Employees themselves had requested Rahul to meet them long back,” Arshad said.

The interaction has been planned outside the HAL corporate office at Minsk Square on Saturday. “In a democratic setup, how can employees of an organisation be prevented from meeting an Opposition leader. The event will take place,” Arshad said.

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