Cong misled on Rafale: Anil to Rahul

In letter to Cong chief, Ambani says there is no contract from Govt to his firms on deal

Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group chairman Anil Ambani, who has been under attack from Opposition over the Rafale deal under the Modi Government has written to Congress president Rahul Gandhi expressing deep anguish over the continued insinuation that his company was beneficiary of the deal.

Defending himself and his company, Ambani in strongly-worded letter said the Congress has been “misinformed, misdirected and misled” by “malicious vested interests and corporate rivals” on the issue. The letter came two days after Rahul constituted a committee to expose the alleged dubious Rafale deal nationwide. Ambani, who had first written to Rahul on the issue in December, now said not a single component worth a single rupee is to be manufactured by his group for the 36 Rafale jets India is buying from France.

“Allegations of Reliance benefitting by thousands of crores is a figment of imagination, promoted by vested interests,” the company statement said, quoting from Ambani’s letter. “Simply put, no contract exists with the Government of India.”

Rahul has been attacking the Government for inking the deal at a much higher price than the one the previous UPA regime had negotiated. While he has accused the Government of changing the deal to benefit “one businessman”, his party has demanded a JPC probe into the deal.

Ambani in the letter expressed “deep anguish over continued personal attacks by Rahul Gandhi on him”, the statement said.  Explaining the role of Reliance in offset exports/ work share with Dassault, he said, “The Congress has been misinformed, misdirected and misled by malicious vested interests and corporate rivals.”

He said Rafale fighter jets are not being manufactured by Reliance of the Dassault Reliance joint venture. “All 36 planes are to be 100 per cent manufactured in France, and exported from France to India.” “There is no contract from the Ministry of Defence to any Reliance Group company related to 36 Rafale aircraft,” the statement said.

Ambani said his group’s “role is limited to offset/ export obligations. More than 100 medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) will participate in this, along with public sector undertakings like BEL and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

“This role strengthens Indian manufacturing capabilities, and is in pursuance of the Offsets Policy introduced by the Congress-led UPA Government itself from 2005 onwards.”

Ambani said Reliance Group announced its decision to enter the defence manufacturing sector in December 2014-January 2015, “months before the intention for the purchase of Rafale aircraft”. French company Dassault, which is supplying the fighter jets, has entered into a joint venture with Reliance Group to meet its offset requirement of the contract.

Under defence offset, a foreign supplier of equipment agrees to manufacture a given percent of his product (in terms of value) in the buying country. Sometimes this may take place with technology transfer.

While direct offsets are linked to the original defence contact where companies often agree to transfer relevant technological know-how or use local suppliers to build the equipment they are selling to the Government, indirect offsets have nothing to do with the deal and can include the company making up investments in local industries.