Rafale Deal: Rahul Gandhi hits out at Jaitley's '2 truth' statement; calls for JPC
Who said what
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday responded to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s blog, where he said former French President François Hollande was contradicting himself.
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said, “Mr Jetlie’s speciality is his ability to spin “2 truths”, or lies, with fake self-righteousness & indignation to defend the indefensible. It’s high time he, the RM & our PM stop lying and call a JPC to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the Rafale Scam.
aitley on Sunday said former French President Francois Hollande contradicted his own statement with regard to the Rafale deal and that neither the Indian nor the French government played any role in selection of Reliance as offset partner by Dassault.
A political controversy has erupted over Hollande's statement that the Indian government wanted the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence to be chosen as offset partner of Dassault, the manufacturer of the Rafale fighter jets.
Attacking Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Jaitley said that the truth cannot have two versions.
"A controversy is sought to be created on the basis of a statement made by the former French President Hollande, that the Reliance Defence ‘partnership’ with Dassault Aviation was entered at the suggestion of the Indian Government. In a subsequent statement the former President has sought to suggest that Reliance Defence emerged on the scene after the agreement with the Indian Government was entered into. He has, in a subsequent statement, said that he is ‘not aware’ if Government ever lobbied for Reliance Defence and that ‘the partners chose themselves’. Truth cannot have two versions," said Jaitley in a Facebook post.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being "corrupt", saying former French president Francois Hollande's remarks on Reliance Defence shows "clear cut" corruption in the Rafale deal.
Questioning Modi's "silence" on the issue, he said the prime minister should come clean on the charge of favouring Reliance Defence in the deal.
"It is very important for the Prime Minister of India now to either accept Mr Hollande's statement and say 'Yes, it is the truth -- Mr Narendra Modi gave the Rafale contract in Rs 30,000 crore to Mr Anil Ambani', or 'Mr Hollande is not telling the truth and here is the truth'," Gandhi told a press conference.
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