Rahul Gandhi slams PM Modi's govt over Rafale deal

New Delhi, Aug 22: Once again Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has fired a fresh salvo at the Narendra Modi government alleging corruption and malfeasance in the purchase of Rafale fighter jets from French aircraft manufacturing company Dassault Aviation.

Citing a news report titled 'CAG drops audit of Rafale offset deal', the Congress leader said "the money was stolen from the Indian exchequer". He also quoted Mahatma Gandhi in his tweet. "Money was stolen from the Indian exchequer in Rafale. "Truth is one, paths are many." Mahatma Gandhi," Gandhi said in a tweet.

Rahul Gandhi's remark came after a news agency reported quoted top sources to claim that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) denied sharing information related to Rafale offset deals with the federal auditor. The CAG was earlier reportedly considering to audit 12 among the 32 offset deals inked by the French manufacturer with the Indian side.

As per the report, the Defence Ministry told the CAG that Dassault would be sharing details related to offset contracts only after three years of the deal. Notably, Reliance Defence of Anil Ambani group had bagged an offset contract as part of the Rafale fighter jets deal.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign, Rafale fighter jet deal had become a major political topic with the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi constantly attacking the Modi government accusing it of being untruthful about the Rafale aircraft deal with France.

Rahul Gandhi had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of treason and corruption multiple times and alleged that he had acted as a middleman for industrialist Anil Ambani in the deal.