Rafale scandal has begun to stink and PM Modi has begun to sink: Congress’ Jaipal Reddy

Saying that present French President Emmanuel Macron did not contradict the remarks of his predecessor that the Indian government had “proposed” Reliance Defence as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation in the 36-Rafale deal, Reddy said the consistent non-contradiction from current French authorities amounted to confirmation of facts.

“For the first time on Wednesday, current French President avoided the question on Rafale and said he was not incharge at the time. In other words, he did not contradict the former French President’s words. This consistent non-contradiction from current French authorities is absolutely tantamount to confirmation of facts,” Reddy said.

Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session on Wednesday, Macron said the Rafale deal was a “government-to-government” discussion and he was not in power when the multi-billion dollar agreement was inked.

Reddy further said that for the first time an Indian PM was contradicted by a former president of a responsible world power and asked the BJP government not to confuse Paris with Pakistan. “Can anybody give a single example where Indian PM is contradicted by a major friendly, western democracy? Modi stands self-condemned. For everything, he refers to Pakistan as a ploy. This is Paris and not Pakistan,” he said.

The former minister said the PM was getting sandwiched between international revelations and internal disclosures and should break his silence on the “scam”, which is becoming thicker and more curious with every passing day.

Referring to an Indian Express report that said a senior officer of the Contract Negotiations Committee (CNC) raised questions about the deal’s benchmark price a month before it was signed, the Congres leader said it was certain that Anil Ambani’s company was taken as the offset partner due to “pressure” from the Indian government.