BJP rejects Hollande's claim, calls Gandhi family source of corruption in India

Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a symbol of honesty after Congress president Rahul Gandhi threw the "thief" barb at him, the BJP Saturday rejected former French president Francois Hollande's sensational claim on the Rafale deal, saying it does not know under what compulsion he said so.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also said that Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of the fighter aircraft, and Reliance had entered into an agreement as early as 2012 when the Congress-led UPA was in power as he refuted the allegation that the Modi government had favoured the Anil Ambani-led company.

Ruling out Gandhi's demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the deal, he told a press conference that it cannot be done merely to satisfy the ego of "an arrogant and ill-informed leader repeating lies after lies".

The political slugfest between the two parties turned uglier as Prasad called the Gandhi family the "source of corruption" in India and raked up cases of alleged graft involving it after Rahul Gandhi's blistering attack on the prime minister.

No prime minister of India has been spoken of in a manner Gandhi did about Modi, the BJP leader said, terming his comments as "irresponsible and shameful" and that he had smeared his face with black paint with such remarks.

"We cannot expect anything better from Gandhi. He has no quality, no capability and whatever he is he owes to his family... Modi is a symbol of honesty and a global leader," Prasad said, claiming that doors for middlemen and power brokers have been shut under his government.

Prasad also cited statements of the French government and Dassault in which they said Indian and French dispensations had no role in picking the offset partner of the private company, to brush aside the charge of corruption.

He sought to discredit the claim of Hollande, who had said that the Indian government has proposed Reliance as an offset partner, saying that French journalists have spoken about his "conflict of interests". It is none of our concern, he then added.

Gandhi told reporters that "what the ex-President of France is saying is that the Prime Minister of India is a 'thief'. That is what this (Hollande's) statement is saying".

He went to add: "And it is very important for the Prime Minister of India now to either accept Mr Hollande's statement and say Yes, it is the truth -- Mr Narendra Modi gave the Rafale contract in Rs.30,000 crore to Mr Anil Ambani, or Mr Hollande is not telling the truth and here is the truth."