PTI, NEW DELHI: Raising the heat on the Modi government over the Rafale jet deal, the Congress today accused it of promoting crony capitalism and its own “self interests” and ignoring national interests.
Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government is not answering why Rs 41,205 crore more out of the public money was paid for the Rafale fighters and accused the prime minister of violating the ‘defence procurement procedure’.
The opposition party alleged that Reliance Defence was chosen as the local partner for offset contracts worth crores, as per the 2016 annual report of Dassault Aviation and a press statement of Reliance Defence.
Reliance Defence and Aerospace, in a statement, said that it or any other Reliance group company has not received any contract from the Defence Ministry till date, relating to the 36 Rafale aircraft.
“This is absolutely unfounded and incorrect,” the company said.
It also claimed that there is no violation of any rule or preferential treatment to Dassault Reliance Aviation Ltd (DRAL), the joint venture company formed to fulfil the offset contracts in the Rafale deal.
The Congress leader, however, accused the prime minister of making the announcement of “off-the-shelf” purchase of 36 fighter jets in Paris at a much higher rate than that negotiated by the UPA government.
“Rafale is a scam and the government is in scam. Indians feel deprived while the BJP ensured that crony capitalism thrived. Instead of protecting India’s interest we have the Modi government protecting its self-interests,” Chaturvedi said in a statement.
