Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said he was throwing a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, daring him to break his silence and come clean on the Rafale deal row.
"Now, I throw a challenge to Narendra Modiji. Answer these questions. The French president who signed Rafale deal with you is saying that you helped Anil Ambani to get the deal," he said at a public meeting at Baikunthpur in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh today.
He then asked, "Why did you facilitate the deal for a company indebted with Rs 45,000 crore? Why did you buy a fighter aircraft for Rs 1600 crore which cost Rs 526 crore?"
Gandhi said Modi gives a lot of speeches and added,"Spare some time to answer these questions. Give your clarification."
He asked the prime minister to "tell the public that you are a 'chowikidar' (watchman) and I have not indulged in theft."
He went on to add, "You (PM) won't answer these queries as you have helped your friend Anil Ambani bag Rs 30,000 crore deal and the country knows that Narendra Modi speaks lies one after another on the stage. And Narendra Modiji's intention is not clear."
Ambani has already rejected Rahul Gandhi's allegations and emphasised that the government had no role in the Rafale-manufacturer French company Dassault picking up his company as a local partner.
He had written to Gandhi on December 12, 2017, refuting allegations of his Reliance Group lacking experience to get the Rafale fighter jet deal.
Ambani had written that Reliance Defence has the largest shipyard in the private sector at Pipavav in Gujarat and is currently building five Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels (NOPVs) for the Indian Navy and 14 Fast Patrol Vessels for the Indian Coast Guard.
(With PTI inputs)
