Modi acted as Anil Ambani’s Mediator in Rafale deal, committed ‘treason’: Rahul Gandhi
NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi with treason allegation linked to the Rafale controversy, citing an email that he said revealed the industrialist had visited Paris and met with the French Defence Minister, 10 days before the PM went there and announced the 36-jet deal with France. The Congress president said today that Anil Ambani was aware of the deal when even “the Defence Minister and Foreign Secretary didn’t know”.
“PM has done what spies do, he has compromised national security. He is under oath to protect these secrets. But he has given these secrets to others. This itself is criminal and puts him in jail”
Rahul Gandhi said in a press conference.
Rahul is citing an email of an official of Airbus; a number of employees of the plane-maker were reportedly in the meeting between Anil Ambani and French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. He rubbished the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on the Rafale deal indicating it “Chowkidar Auditor General report”. He said the CAG report was “worthless”.
The email by Airbus official Nicolas Chamussy, dated March 28, 2015, and pointed to three recipients with the subject line “Ambani”, delineated the meeting as “confidential and planned as you can imagine with a very short notice”.
Rahul Gandhi said: Anil Ambani, who met the French Defence Minister, mentioned a MoU he is wishing to sign after the Indian prime minister’s visit to France, holding up a copy of the email. Mr. Ambani says he is first looking to make commercial helicopters. This is a contravention of the Official Secrets Act. The PM Narendra Modi is the only other person who knows about this. In fact, Anil Ambani opened his company after this meeting.
The Airbus email said Anil Ambani “told them he has plans to work with Airbus Helicopters on commercial helos and then on defence.” Ambani is also said to have “mentioned a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is drawing up and the intention to sign during the PM visit”.
According to Reliance Defence, Airbus had told Anil Ambani that there were “other potential partners” and the deal broken down. Airbus is distinct to continue working with the Mahindra Group.
The Congress president Rahul Gandhi also questioned the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Rafale deal and said, “The Supreme Court judgment is open to question now.”
Rahul reiterated his demand that a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) should be instituted in the Rafale deal “Institute a probe by the JPC if the PM is not involved,” he said.
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