Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses a press conference at Officers Training Academy (OTA), in Chennai, Saturday.
Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman hit out at former French President Francois Hollande over his remarks on the nearly Rs 58,000 crore Rafale jet deal. She said that Hollande's claims came at a time when he himself was facing allegations that his partner had received “some funds for some purpose”.
Referring to reports which sugested Reliance Entertainment firm of Anil Ambani had signed a pact to finance a film by French actress producer Julie Gayet, partner of Francois Hollande, in a quid pro quo deal for getting the Rafale offset contract, she said; "here was the former president of France who himself is facing an allegation of his associate having received some funds for some purpose. It (allegation) may be true or may not be true. But in such a situation, the former president saying this...”.
The reports had suggested that Reliance Entertainment had signed the pact with Gayet’s company ahead of Hollande’s 2016 India visit and India signing a pact to acquire 36 Rafale fighter aircraft under a government-to-government deal.
Reliance Entertainment has refuted the allegations, saying that no payments were made to Gayet.
On September 21, a French media report quoted Hollande as purportedly saying that India proposed Reliance Defence as partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rafale deal and France did not have a choice.
The defence minister also took a swipe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s August 30 tweet, saying he seemed to be predicting Hollande’s actions well in advance. “...it is done well in advance. It is very interesting.”
On August 30, Gandhi tweeted “Globalised corruption. This #Rafale aircraft really does fly far and fast! It’s also going to drop some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks. Modi ji please tell Anil, there is a big problem in France.”
She also accused the previous UPA government of being in touch with "brokers", Sitharaman alleged that the Congress government did not buy important equipment required for the defence force. She also said that the Congress was desperate and its allegations over Rafale deal reflected that.
To a question on much-delayed S-400 deal with Russia, Sitharaman said the deal was almost at a stage where it could be finalised.
The minister’s statement came a day after Gandhi launched a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “See what wonders the Saheb (Modi) has done/look at the Rafale murk/ the falling rupee, the rising oil,” he tweeted.
