Narendra Modi Government Compromising Indo-French Ties Over Rafale: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of compromising India’s friendly ties with France by alleging a “collusion” between former French President Francois Hollande and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi over the Rafale deal. Targeting Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s latest remarks on the raging Rafale issue, the Congress also claimed the Modi regime is trying to influence the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to whom the Congress has approached seeking a probe.

“For the BJP, even India-France relations will be a grist to their mill, doesn’t matter if they (ties with France) are a causality as long as they try and score ridiculous debating point,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the media here. The Congress leader’s comments were in reaction to Jaitley’s Sunday remarks suggesting a link between a tweet by Gandhi on the Rafale and Hollande’s subsequent revelation that the Modi government proposed to choose a private entity instead of defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for the offset contract. The Congress also attacked Jaitley over his (Sunday) remarks that the “CAG would study the pricing and take a view on whether the NDA government’s deal was better than the one UPA was negotiating”. (IANS)