Prime Minister Narendra Modi won’t survive if Rafale is probed: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Alleging French defense major Dassault Aviation of paying “kickback” to secure the Rafale deal, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not survive if the “huge corruption” in the purchase was probed.

“If an inquiry starts on this (Rafale deal), Modi is not going to survive it, guaranteed,” Gandhi said at a press conference at the party headquarters here.

Citing two reasons for his claims, he said: “One, because of corruption. Two, because it is very clear who the decision maker was... Nobody would be able to say that some general in the Air Force or the Defence Minister or some bureaucrat from the Defence Ministry. It was a deal done by Narendra Modi to give Anil Ambani Rs 30,000 crore,” he said.

Gandhi also said that if there was nothing to hide, Modi would have ordered an inquiry into the decision to purchase the fighter jets from France. “If the Prime Minister was not involved, he would have said ‘let there be an inquiry by the CBI or the Supreme Court’. But he is silent. He has lost his sleep because of tension because he knows he will be caught.”

Referring to Dassault Aviation investing Rs 284 crore in a “loss-making” Indian company, Gandhi said it was the “first installment of kickback” that was paid by the French defense major to secure the deal.

“Dassault CEO (Eric Trappier) had claimed his company chose Reliance as its offsets partner because it had land available next to an airport. But now it has been revealed that the land was bought by the money that was invested by Dassault. (IANS)

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