Rafale row: Rahul attacks PM Modi again, says supreme leader's minions 'threatening' journalists

Amid ongoing row over Rafale deal, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has once again launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that his minions are now sending threatening messages to journalists reporting on the issue.

In a fresh allegation, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "Supreme leader's minions are now sending threatening messages to journalists reporting on the #RafaleScam asking them to "back off or else...”

The Congress chief also said that he is really proud of the few brave press people who still have the guts to defend the truth and stand up to Mr 56.

On Friday, Gandhi had alleged that the joint venture of "Mr 56's friend" received " USD 20 billion actual benefits" through offset contracts in the deal, equivalent to Rs 1,30,000 crore.

The Congress has launched an offensive on the prime minister and his government over the Rafale deal, alleging favouritism in granting the offset contract to Reliance Defence, in violation of the rules and has accused Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of "lying" to the nation on the issue.

Anil Ambani had written to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi earlier this week, refuting allegations of lack of experience, and stating that the government had no role in French Group Dassault picking up his company as a local partner.

Last week, the Congress also alleged that the Modi government is 'deceiving' the country by not giving the answer about the award of offset contract to a private player to the tune of Rs 130000 crore in this 'mother of all defence deals'.

However, the government has been rejecting all allegations about the Rafale deal. Union Minister Arun Jaitley said that the Congress is creating fake controversy over the issue as they have no other issue to raise.

Meanwhile, Billionaire Anil Ambani also wrote to Congress President Rahul Gandhi refuting allegations of his Reliance Group lacking the experience to get the Rafale fighter jet deal and said the government had no role in French Group Dassault picking up his company as a local partner.

In a two-page letter written on December 12, 2017, Ambani explained to Gandhi, who has been attacking the government over the Rafale deal, why his Reliance Group bagged the multi-billion dollar project.

Invoking his family's "respectful relationship" with the Gandhi family over generations, Ambani said he was "personally saddened" by the "unfortunate statements" against him and his group by several functionaries of the Congress party.

Recently, Strategic Affairs analyst Nitin A Gokhale had written a detailed piece on DNA explaining why Rahul Gandhi’s allegations flew against the facts.

“Clearly, Rahul Gandhi is unaware of these facts or is deliberately choosing to ignore the reality. Also, to say a private company, allegedly close to the Prime Minister will stand to benefit because of nepotism, is also contrary to facts," he said in his piece.