Rahul Gandhi likely to visit HAL on Oct 13

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru on October 13 and he may address the employees of the state-owned aviation company.

According to sources, Gandhi has been invited by the HAL employees' union. However, the Congress party or Gandhi's office did not divulge any details of the visit.

Asked about the meeting at an AICC briefing, party spokesperson Jaipal Reddy said Gandhi is visiting as HAL has been the victim of the Rafale deal signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

"It has become the biggest victim because 10,000 employees of HAL are about to lose their jobs as it did not get the Rafale contract," he claimed.

"If they (Modi government) had followed our contract and bought 18 aircraft in fly-away condition and built the rest in HAL, then the technology would have been absorbed in India and would have enhanced its (HAL's) manufacturing capacity. That is why Rahulji is rightly going to HAL," he told reporters.

Reddy said the UPA's policy was to keep all defence matters with the public sector and it may have relaxed some conditions to bring in the private sector.

The Congress spokesperson said if HAL had got the offset contract, it could have benefitted from things like technology transfer.