The revelation made by Former French President Francois Hollande on the dubious role of the Narendra Modi government in the Rafale jets deal appears to have rattled the Indian minister and his cabinet colleagues the most. A day after Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said he was hurt by Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s ‘thief’ jibe for Modi, another cabinet colleague of the prime minister has sensationally said that Hollande may have been prompted to make the revelation at the Congress president’s behest.
He wrote on his Facebook, “The former French President’s first statement rhymes with Rahul Gandhi’s prediction.” The prediction of Rahul Gandhi, stated by Jaitley, is the former’s tweet posted on 31 August, when he warned the government to wait for ‘big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks.’
His tweet had read, ” 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.”
Rahul had posted his tweet while sharing a newspaper story on the possible conflict of interest by Hollande during the negotiation of the Rafale deal.
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. https://t.co/tvL7HMBPFN
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 31, 2018
When asked an ANI reporter if he was indeed hinting at Rahul Gandhi possibly influencing Hollande’s latest comments, Jaitley said, “I don’t know, but I see a perfect coincidence in the rhythm bteween his tweet posted on 31 August and what happens when the statement is made (by Hollande).”
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Prasad on Saturday had said, “It is very shameful, irresponsible. No national president of any party has used such words against a PM of the country before. We can’t expect anything else from Rahul Gandhi. He is chargesheeted in the National Herald case with his mother. He is silent on land grabbing case against his brother-in-law.”
Hollande had stunned the Modi government by his explosive revelation last week that the decision to choose Anil Ambani, a close friend of Modi, was taken at the behest of the Indian government. He had repeated his stand in his subsequent interview, given to news agency AFP, a day later in Canada’s Montreal. When asked if he had faced pressure from the Indian government to choose Anil Ambani’s Reliance as the offset partner, Hollande had asked the journalist to go and ask Dassault Aviation about it.
Meanwhile, Twitterati have been hailing Janta Ka Reporter and Ravi Nair, who wrote the three-part investigative series exposing the corruption in the Rafale deal for us. Janta Ka Reporter in its three part series last year had first exposed the scam in the purchase of Rafale jets from the French company Dassault aviation. (You can read them here Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3).