Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “corruption in the Rafale deal”, saying the NDA government had agreed to pay ₹1,600 crore an aircraft against the ₹540 crore in the now-abrogated deal with Dassault of France reached by the UPA regime.
Addressing a meeting of Congress workers here, Mr. Gandhi said Mr. Modi had taken “his friend” — Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani — with him to France despite the latter having no experience in the defence sector.
“Mr. Ambani’s company was formed just a week before the deal, while the price of the Rafale aircraft was increased by three times,” he said.
“Mr. Modi has clearly indulged in corruption and theft. The entire country will see this in the near future,” Mr. Gandhi said. AICC general secretaries Ashok Gehlot and Avinash Pande, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress president Sachin Pilot and thousands of party workers were present. Mr. Gandhi said that when he raised the issue of Rafale deal and corruption in Parliament, Mr. Modi did not spare even a minute to answer the questions in his long speech.
On jobs for youth
While the original plan to let the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. assemble 108 aircraft would have got jobs for the youth, Mr. Modi had snatched the opportunity from them through the renewed deal, he said.
He launched the Congress campaign for the Assembly election by staging a 12-km roadshow from the Sanganer airport to the Ramlila Maidan to address party workers.
From the meeting, he went to the famous Govind Dev temple in the Walled City here.
Mr. Gandhi travelled in a modified bus and greeted the people, as rose petals were showered on him.
Roadshow
He alighted from the bus several times to meet party workers, while cars, buses, SUVs and even elephants followed him on his way to the meeting venue.
Outside the airport, a group of Kalbeliya folk dancers welcomed him.
In his address, Mr. Gandhi said the Prime Minister, who had promised 2 crore jobs, ₹15 lakh in every bank account and measures for women’s safety, had failed on all fronts. “Why were the debts of ₹2,30,000 crore of 15 to 20 rich industrialists written off as as bad loans? On the other hand, the government cannot help the debt-ridden farmers who are committing suicide,” he said.
Mr. Gandhi accused Mr. Modi of remaining silent on the atrocities against Dalits, minorities and tribal people, and asserted that his party would form the government in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh going to the polls this year.