An internal document of Dassault Aviation, as claimed by a French media portal, has added more fuel to the controversy over the Rafale jet deal that is raging in India. Investigative journal Mediapart has reported that they have accessed the internal document of Dassault Aviation, which mentions that chosing Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence as the offset partner in India was “imperative and mandatory” for the deal.
The report surfaces just a day ahead of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s three-day visit to France, in which she will be taking stock of the progress of the big budget purchase of 36 Rafale jets at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore.
Last month, former French president Francois Hollande was quoted by Mediapart as saying that France was given "no choice" on selection of the Indian partner for Dassault and that the Indian government proposed the name of Reliance to partner with the French aerospace giant. Hollande's comments triggered a massive political row in India. Later, Dassault clarified that the decision to partner with Reliance was its own.
The previous Congress-led UPA government had negotiated with Dassault for 126 Rafale jets under which 18 jets were to be supplied in a fly-away condition and 108 were to be manufactured in India along with state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). However, the UPA could not seal the deal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after talks with Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris. The final deal was sealed on September 23, 2016.
The Congress has been alleging massive irregularities in the deal, saying the government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government when it was negotiating the deal.
The Congress has also been targeting the government over selection of Reliance Defence as an offset partner for Dassault.
The government has vehemently rejected the allegations and asserted that it did not have any role in the selection of Reliance Defence.
