Rafale Deal: Vadra asks Modi to tell nation the truth

Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra on Wednesday accused the Narendra Modi-led BJP government of indulging in "witch hunt" against him and said that they should tell the nation the "truth rather than hiding behind a bunch of lies".

In a Facebook post, Vadra said that it used to "amaze" him in the beginning. "But now it has become a wholesale farce that the BJP rakes up my name every time they are cornered, whether it's the falling rupee, soaring oil prices or this latest number when they have been totally exposed selling out the nation on Rafale," he said.

Vadra's remarks come after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that there was a nexus between him and arms dealer and middleman Sanjay Bhandari due to which the Rafale deal with French firm was cancelled in 2012.

Vadra, who is married to Rahul Gandhi's sister Priyanka Gandhi, said, "Having all the agencies under their beck and call... No one knows better than the BJP that they have indulged in a baseless political witch hunt against me for the last four years."

"Instead they should man up with their 56 inch chest and tell the nation the truth about the Rafale deal rather than hiding behind a bunch of lies which the people are fed up of hearing," he added.

The BJP on Tuesday alleged that Bhandari, who has close links with Vadra, formed a company named Offset India Solutions (OIS) in 2008 and he formed a joint venture with Rafaut as he tried to enter into an offset clause in the Rafale fighter jets deal through the back door.

The BJP alleged that the then government mounted pressure on the French firm Dassault Aviation to give works to Bhandari's company.

The BJP also said that the Rafale deal was scrapped after years of negotiations as Vadra was not getting the commission out of the deal.

The party also alleged that Vadra had received a flat in London worth Rs 19 crore and air tickets to Zurich from Bhandari to secure defence deals for him.

The Congress has been accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in crony capitalism apart from violating procedures in the Rafale deal.

--IANS

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