Rafale deal: In a sharp attack on Modi, Rahul says PM safeguarding Ambani's interest

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a quickly organised press conference, Rahul stated that Modi is a corrupt Prime Minister and claimed that he gave away Rs 30,000 crore rupees to Ambanis.

Sharpening his attack a step further, the Congress president also accused Modi of being Ambani's Prime Minister. "PM Modi Ambani ki chowkidari kar rahe hain (PM Modi is safeguarding Ambani's interest)," Rahul said.

The attack comes in the wake of a report published by a French website Mediapart which said it has accessed an internal document of French aviation major Dassault Aviation where it was being claimed that it is imperative for the company to get into a relationship with a particular Indian counterpart, in this case the Reliance Group.

Rahul also insisted that Prime Minister is directly involved in the Rafale scam and called for an investigation by joint parliamentary committee (JPC).

The Congress has decided to make Rafale into an issue of corruption to target PM Modi. Throughout the press conference, Rahul continued to press the message that Rafale is a scam which has been instituted from top within the NDA regime. He also raised questions on defence minister Nirmala Sitaraman's visit to France.

Though French government and Dassault Aviation continue to deny any quid pro quo, Congress is determined to take on the government on the Rafale issue. In fact, the party has constituted a small group to focus only on the Rafale deal and turn it into an electoral issue.

Rahul Gandhi said that Dassault will say whatever the Indian government wants it to say as the company is sitting on a huge contract. Despite the best effort of the the government, controversy refuses to die down for the government which claims that it went into a deal because of urgent requirement by the Indian Air Force.