Corporate elites and businessmen are enjoying “achhe din” (good days) under the regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the common people are suffering the most, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao has alleged.
At a press conference at the party office here on Thursday, Mr. Rao said, “Mr. Modi’s business friends such as Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Anil Ambani benefited immensely from the pro-business policies of the BJP government.”
The Modi government ordered 36 Rafale fighter jets from French firm Dassault in 2016 at a whopping $7.5 billion by violating all norms, he alleged. But the country had not received a single fighter jet so far. Mr. Modi favoured Anil Ambani’s Reliance in the deal, he alleged.
Mr. Rao asked why HAL was bypassed in favour of a private firm which had zero experience of building fighter jets or even its parts.
The Congress has accused the Prime Minister of not being truthful about the deal, and has demanded the government reveal the price it paid for the aircraft. The government has countered the charges by saying that making the details public would compromise national security.