Rafale Deal Controversy: Union MoS Gajendra Shekhawat's 'iPhone Analogy' to Rebut Congress' Charge

New Delhi, September 24: Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat today used iPhone analogy to rebut Congress’ allegations over Rafale deal. The Minister of State, Agriculture while addressing a press conference, said that we could not compare the technology of basic iPhone of 10 years back with the capacities of the iPhone now. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also alleged that Congress wanted to give offset deal to Offset India Solutions (OIS) owned by Sanjay Bhandari.

Shekhawat said, "Since Bhandari was linked to Vadra, the then government wanted to rope his firm in the Rafale deal. But Dassault was against it.” He further added that the agencies were probing the link. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman alleged that the Congress is running a smear campaign against the Modi government at an international level. Sitharaman said, “This is a perception battle. We will fight this battle. We'll go to places and state facts on record on Rafale. Congress designs to run a smear campaign against us at an international level.”

The Congress has increased its attack on the central government after the former French President Francois Hollande alleged that the NDA government proposed the name of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence Limited for the offset contract worth Rs 30,000 crore. However, the defence minister and even Dassault Aviation have refuted Hollande’s claim. The Congress has alleged corruption in the deal. The opposition party also question the government’s move to purchase 36 Rafale jets instead of 126 Rafale jets as negotiated by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 24, 2018 06:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).