Dassault Aviation has decided to build a plant in Nagpur, which will enable them to meet approximately 10 per cent of these offsets obligations.
Congress and BJP traded terse barbs on Thursday after French news portal Mediapart brought out a fresh set of internal documents belonging to Dassault Aviation. The channel said the papers suggest that inclusion of Reliance as an offset partner was made "imperative and obligatory" for securing the Rafale contract.
Meanwhile, Dassault Aviation's CEO Eric Trappier told AFP that the controversies around the deal are "sad but we are calm". The firm said that it will carry out 10 per cent of the offset obligations with Reliance as provided under the contract.
He clarified that what is called "offset" in English is usually translated into French as "compensation" or "contrepartie". "The reference is the contract that we signed, called "Offset contract"," he said. Signing an offsets contract is a condition imposed by Indian law (Defence Procurement Procedure), and, under it, the choice of partners belongs to us.
Dassault Aviation has decided to build a plant in Nagpur, which will enable them to meet approximately 10 per cent of these offsets obligations. "The 65-year-old cooperation between Dassault and India is gaining new momentum with 'Make in India' and we are proud to contribute to it," Trappier said.
Meanwhile, equipped with fresh ammunition, party president Rahul Gandhi alleged that the revelation has made it crystal clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a Rs 30,000-crore "compensation contract" to Anil Ambani; And that he is no a chowkidar of the country, but of Anil Ambani's Reliance firm.
Quoting the Mediapart report, Gandhi said, "Dassault Aviation's Chief Operating Officer, the group's second most powerful executive Mr Segalen, said, 'It was imperative and obligatory for Dassault Aviation to accept this compensation in order to obtain the Rafale India export contract'."
Gandhi also raised questions about Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman's "sudden and unexplained" visit to France and Dassault HQ, coining it a cover-up exercise. "What can be a clearer message than this?" he asked.
Within hours, the BJP had a scathing rebuke. "If he is so sure, why does the Clown Prince not go to the Supreme Court with these documents," said BJP's national spokesperson, Sambit Patra. He also accused the Congress president of making a "mockery of national security".
In a no-holds-barred attacked, Patra called the whole Gandhi clan corrupt, pointing out that the mother and son duo are out on bail in a corruption case.
Referring to the allegation made by Gandhi in Parliament that French president Macron had told him that there was no secrecy clause in the Rafale deal, Patra said this lie was exposed by the French government within hours via a letter. "You lie again after being exposed once. This shows Rahul Gandhi's level of shamelessness," Patra said.
He said Gandhi should instead answer the questions BJP had posed to him about the Rafale deal undertaken during the UPA regime. The questions were: Who is Sanjoy Bhandari? What is his relationship with Robert Vadra? Why was Vadra given a Rs 19-crore home in London? And who refurbished that house at a cost if GBP 35,000?
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