Bengaluru: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday described HAL as a “strategic asset” in aerospace, saying the country owed a debt to it, as he stepped up his campaign against the government over the Rafale fighter jet deal.
Reaching out to current and former employees of the defence PSU at an interaction with them here, Gandhi said the work done by HAL for the country was tremendous and the country was indebted to it for “protecting us” and creating a scientific vision.
“....HAL is a strategic asset in aerospace, not an ordinary or regular company,” Gandhi said at the event organised at Minsk Square near the HAL headquarters.
He said he was interacting with employees to understand how to make “this strategic asset” (HAL) more effective “so that when we come to power, we will do it more aggressively.”
Gandhi’s interaction is part of his onslaught against the government over the Rafale deal, in which he alleges that HAL had been overlooked in the offsets contracts with French aerospace company Dassault Aviation preferring Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence.
The Congress has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of snatching jobs of people of Karnataka by taking away the contract from HAL.
Gandhi had been saying that had HAL been selected in place of Reliance Defence it could have generated employment for scores of unemployed youth in the state.
The BJP and Reliance Defence have dismissed all allegations.
The government had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with then French President Francois Hollande on 10th April 2015, in Paris.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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