New Delhi: After a French judge was appointed to investigate alleged corruption in the sale of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft to India, Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Rajya Sabha on Sunday said Indian National Congress' stand is vindicated as "the scandalous details of the scam have been revealed". Kharge, through the official Twitter account of LoP, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "compromised national security" by signing the deal for 36 jets instead of the 126 jets as requested by the Indian Air Force.
"A French judge has been appointed to investigate the alleged money laundering, corruption, influence peddling and undue favours in the Rafale deal. Rahul Gandhi and the Indian National Congress stand vindicated, the scandalous details of the scam have been revealed," LoP tweeted. "In 2016, PM Narendra Modi compromised national security and signed a deal for 36 jets instead of the 126 requested by Indian Air Force for 7 squadrons. This pushed the price of each aircraft up by 41.42 per cent and the price of each aircraft increased from Rs 526 Crores to Rs 1670 Crores," he said in another tweet.
Kharge said that in 2018, Francois Hollande said that Reliance's selection as Dassault's partner was only the government of India's decision. "Dassault pledged up to 159 million euros i.e. 94 per cent of the funds for 49 per cent stake in DRAL while Reliance was given the majority 51 per cent stake for only 10 million euros! As per the confidential partnership agreement, the sole purpose of Ambani's firm was "marketing for programs and services with the GOI" i.e. to exert political influence and clout with the BJP. Was Anil Ambani being used as a lobbyist for foreign interests?" he asked.