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Sharping his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi Saturday said former French President Francois Hollande has called him a “thief” in the Rafale deal and questioned PM’s silence and asked him to come clean on whether Hollande was telling the truth or not.

Addressing a press conference a day after Hollande had said that the French government had no role in making a private Indian firm get the offset contract, Gandhi questioned Modi’s silence and asked him to come clean on whether Hollande was telling the truth or not.

“For the first time, an ex-French President is calling our PM a thief. It is a question of the dignity of the office of Prime Minister. It is the question of the future of our jawans and the Air Force. It is very important for PM now to either accept Mr. Hollande’s statement or state that Mr. Hollande is lying and tell what the truth is,” Gandhi said.

“What I’m surprised at is that PM is completely silent. Not one word has come out from PM’s mouth on this. This is from a (former) President of France, who had a one-on-one meeting with PM where the Rafale deal was decided,” he added.

Referring to Modi having earlier described himself as “chowkidar (watchman)” Gandhi said he had given a “free gift” of Rs 30,000 crore to his industrialist friend.

“This has entered into people’s mind that the country’s watchman is thief. He should come clear,” Gandhi said.

Law Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad angrily responded to Rahul’s remarks saying he had made a “shameful, irresponsible statement”, Mr Prasad alleged that there was pressure for extraneous considerations and “bribe” for not finalising the Rafale deal during the UPA rule despite holding negotiations for years. He also said Reliance and Dassault had entered into agreement as early as 2012 when UPA was in power.

In 2012, when Dassault signed the agreement with Reliance, the company was led by Mukesh Ambani. Anil Ambani is his younger brother. Whatever happened between the two brothers is their matter, Mr Prasad said.

Ravi Shankar Prasad sought to discredit the claim of Francois Hollande, saying that French journalists have spoken about his “conflict of interests”. It is none of our concern, he then added.

Rahul Gandhi’s attack came a day after Francois Hollande told a French investigative journal that the Indian government proposed Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as the India partner for the 36 Rafale jet deal and that the French government wasn’t given a choice on the matter.

Calling the Rafale deal corrupt, and accusing various Defence Ministers of this government of shielding PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Rafale deal. He said Mr Hollande can also be called to testify by the JPC.

The Defence Ministry also issued a statement reiterating that “the government has no role in the selection of Indian Offset partner which is a commercial decision of the Original Equipment Manufacturer.”

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