Break your silence on Rafale deal: Congress tells Modi

Break your silence on Rafale deal: Congress tells Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File Photo: IANS)

New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) The Congress on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence on the Rafale deal, saying that the fresh documents pertaining to minutes of meetings of two trade unions of Dassualt Aviation reveal that he "facilitated a sweetheart deal" and benefited a private entity.

"Modi government's Rafale scam gets murkier and muddier by the day. Fresh documents have again reinforced the fact that PM Modi facilitated a sweetheart deal with Dassault Aviation," Congress Communications Incharge Randeep Sing Surjewala said in a statement.

He said the documents also back the charge made by former French President Francois Hollande. "The BJP is running helter-skelter and throwing all kinds of alibis to defend the indefensible," he said.

Surjewala said new set of additional documents reveal that the deal between Dassault Aviation and Reliance Defence was a "compensation' brokered by Modi government".

He said the French labour laws make it compulsory for companies with over 50 employees to set up a ?Central Works Council' (CCE which is on the same lines as trade unions in India).

He said the council has a role in the financial management of the company as well as in the social and cultural activities of employees.

"The minutes of the meeting held on May 11, 2017 between two such trade unions - CGT and CFDT - and Dassault Aviation's Chief Operating Officer Loik Segalen lifts the lid off the murky sweetheart deal," he said.

He said according to the minutes of meeting with CGT, a complete presentation of the "Make in India" with the creation of the "Dassault Reliance Aerospace" enterprise in Nagpur was made.

"According to Segalen, it was imperative and mandatory for Dassault-Aviation to accept this counterpart in order to obtain the Rafale India export contract."

Surjewala said minutes of the meeting with CFDT state: "This is the inevitable consequence of the Rafale India contract which required making `Make in India' to be signed. A joint venture was therefore created with the Indian Reliance company to achieve this goal. Dassault Aviation is a 49 per cent shareholder, Reliance 51 per cent."

He said that CGT minutes also state that "concerning the production in India: the management presents this as the inevitable `compensation related to the Rafale' contract."

Surjewala said that BJP ministers who have said that Dassault Aviation was free to choose its offset partner should explain Segalen's remarks.

"If Dassault Aviation willingly agreed to partner with Reliance Defence, why was it called an inevitable compensation?" he asked.

He said that Dassault, which took years to conclude a work share agreement with HAL, was able to broker a deal with Reliance Defence in a short span of time.

"Undisputed evidence now corroborates, brazen `crony capitalism' and ?quid pro quo' by Modi government in the multi crore Rafale Scam. Time for PM Modi to break his silence," he said.

Surjewala said this is the third confirmation after Hollande had clearly told a French outlet about PM Modi securing the deal for a private entity.

--IANS

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