Rafale pact not govt-to-govt deal: Congress
Sibal claimed that had Dassault given this undertaking, it would have become L-2 (second bidder in the list) in the deal.
New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday claimed the agreement to purchase the 36 French Rafale jets was not a government-to-government deal. Keeping up the attack over the Rafale “scam”, the Congress also said the French defence major was a “non-compliant” company and the Modi government should not have entered into a deal with it.
Addressing a press conference, senior party leader Kapil Sibal said, “This is not a government-to-government deal, because no such procedure exists in France. France has never entered into a government-to-government defence deal. Moreover, it was not the French government which negotiated the deal with India. It was a deal between the Government of India on one side and Dassault Aviation, a private entity on the other. Since the French government was not involved in the negotiations, how can it be a government-to-government deal?”
Mr Sibal claimed that the French government has never done a government-to-government contract on defence and such a deal has only been done in the United States under the Foreign Military Sales route (FMS).
The Congress leader said Dassault had refused to give an affidavit or undertaking on the number of man-hours required for manufacturing the aircraft, as HAL had claimed that 2.74 times man-hours would be used to manufacture the jet in India, as per a previous contract. He also claimed that had Dassault given this undertaking, it would have become L-2 (second bidder in the list) in the deal.
Taking on Dassault CEO Eric Trappier, the Congress leader said, “Mr Trappier should tell us whether former French President Hollande is lying?”
He further added, “He (Trappier) also said Dassault didn’t go with HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) because it didn’t have land. But the fact is HAL had not only applied for land it already had lot of land in the vicinity of the airport in Bengaluru. All of Trappier’s assertions are not true.” Attacking the Prime Minister, Mr. Sibal said that the prime minister is silent on the issue and compared his “monologues” with people as a vehicle moving in a one-way track. He said the Congress party has taken a pledge to expose the corruption in the Rafale deal.