'Rahul won't meeting HAL employees exclusively'

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday clarified that his party president Rahul Gandhi will not be meeting Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) employees exclusively.

Rao said, Rahul will be attending an event in Bengaluru, which has been organised to discuss HAL's contribution to India.

"It is not that Rahul Gandhi is coming to meet HAL employees. It is about HAL's contribution to India and on this topic there is going to be a discussion. In this program anyone can participate, ex-HAL employees, HAL employees, people interested in HAL developments or who have faith and pride in the company, can participate," he said.

Elaborating further on why the Congress is organising such an event, he said, "HAL is national pride. It is facing a lot of criticism, it is being said that it lacks some credibility. HAL is a public sector undertaking which has done tremendous work for this country, and it has been criticized and defamed by the defence minister itself as well as other leaders. On this issue, some people felt really bad and there is going to be discussion over it."

He further said, that initially the Congress was planning to organise a big protest on Rafale issue but deferred plans owing to Congress president's other engagements.

"We had planned a very big protest on Rafale but unfortunately Congress President's has some other engagements so we are cancelling that program but we will be doing it at much bigger scale, come time in future," Rao added.

Earlier it was reported that Rahul is going to meet the officials and the workers of the HAL to motivate them during his visit to Bengaluru on October 13.

Gandhi has time and again alleged that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government pitched for Reliance Defence as Offset partner in Rafale deal, thus ousting the government-run HAL from it.