New Delhi, November 14

On a day when the Supreme Court began hearing petitions questioning the Rafale deal between India and France, the opposition Congress levelled fresh allegations against the government as part of its ongoing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the 36 aircraft deal.

“Rafale is not a government-to-government contract,” Congress leader Kapil Sibal alleged, adding that France had no provision for entering into a such deal and had only given a letter of comfort to Dassault which negotiated the contract with the BJP-led government privately.

“Dassault Aviation should make a public statement if they ever had a government-to-government contract as there is no such procedure in France. Such a procedure exists in the UK and is called Foreign Military Sales route. The French Government gave only a letter of comfort in the Rafale deal,” Sibal alleged.

Rebutting Dassault CEO Eric Trappier on a range of remarks he made over the Rafale deal, Sibal alleged that Dassault had in fact become non-compliant with the deal during the UPA’s time and the government “could therefore not deal with a non-compliant partner but still dealt with it.” — TNS