Congress used the French website Mediapart’s report to attack the Narendra Modi government on the Rafale deal attempting to label the charges of crony capitalism on the government
New Delhi: Rafale aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation on Thursday denied its deputy CEO’s claim that taking Reliance as offsets partner was mandatory to get the deal from India. In a statement, the French company said their official had stated that forming a joint venture company Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd was required to get the contract with the Indian government.
On Wednesday, Congress used the French website Mediapart’s report to attack the Narendra Modi government on the Rafale deal attempting to label the charges of crony capitalism on the government.
“In compliance with the French regulations, Chief Operating Officer Loïk Segalen informed the Central Works Council of the creation of the DRAL as a joint venture in order to fulfill some of the offsets commitments,” the company statement said.
The French form reiterated that in order to deliver some of these offsets, Dassault Aviation has decided to create a joint venture.
“Dassault Aviation has freely chosen Reliance group as its partner. The joint venture was created on February 10, 2017,” the statement clarified.
Dassault said it has signed similar deals with companies such as BTSL, DEFSYS, Kinetic, Mahindra and Mahindra, Maini, SAMTEL. More such deals are on the anvil with hundred-odd other potential partners, the company added.
Hollande was quoted in an article by a French website as claiming that the Indian government had asked the French government to nominate Reliance Defence as its India partner in the deal.
"We did not have a say in this," Hollande was quoted by the website as saying. "The Indian government proposed this service group and Dassault negotiated with Ambani."
In response to the claim, the French government had said: "The French government is in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners who have been, are being or will be selected by French companies.
"In accordance with India's acquisition procedure, French companies have the full freedom to choose their Indian partner companies that they consider to be the most relevant, then present for the Indian government's approval the offset projects that they wish to execute in India with these local partners so as to fulfill their obligations in this regard."
PM Narendra Modi had announced the deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets from France in 2015 and signed in 2016. The UPA II was earlier negotiating the deal to procure 126 Rafale jets, with 18 to come in flyaway condition and 108 to be manufactured by HAL under license.
The Modi government has repeatedly said it was Dassault that chose its India partner for offsets and that the government had no say in the deal.
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