'Modi government lies again', tweets Rahul Gandhi after Centre admits French government gave 'no guarantee' on Rafale deal

The Centre admitted to the top court that there's no sovereign guarantee from France government on the Rafale deal.

NEW DELHI: Launching fresh salvo at the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday raked up Centre's admission to the Supreme Court that there was no “sovereign guarantee by the French government backing the deal”.

“The latest skeleton to tumble out of the RAFALE cupboard: NO Guarantee by the French Govt. backing the deal. BUT, our PM says there’s a letter from the French promising to be faithful! That’s enough to call this a “Govt to Govt” deal?,” tweeted Gandhi along with hashtag #BikGayaChowkidar

Sharing an image along with the tweet, Gandhi added, “Modi government lies again 'sovereign guarantee by the French government'. Who takes responsibility if Dassault fails to deliver?”

The latest skeleton to tumble out of the RAFALE cupboard:

NO Guarantee by the French Govt. backing the deal.

BUT, our PM says there’s a letter from the French promising to be faithful! That’s enough to call this a “Govt to Govt” deal?#BikGayaChowkidar pic.twitter.com/Epw3J62JbV

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 15, 2018

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on four petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into 36 Rafale fighter jet deal with French firm Dassault Aviation.

A three-hour-long hearing saw Attorney General K.K. Venugopal informing the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K.M. Joseph that though there is no sovereign guarantee from France government, there is a letter of comfort.

"There is no sovereign guarantee but there is a letter of comfort from France dated September 25, 2015 which says that if there is any exigencies, it would be taken care of by them (France)," Venugopal told the bench.

The hearing saw counsel Prashant Bhushan and former Union Minister Arun Shourie questioning the circumventing of the procedure for aborting the process for procuring 126 aircraft (18 in a flyaway condition and 108 to be manufactured by HAL) in favour of procuring 36 jets in a ready-to-fly condition and unloading HAL as an offset partner.

Meanwhile, Dassault CEO Eric Trappier, in a media interview, defended the multi-crore-Rafale deal between India and France. He had claimed no wrong-doing and said his company chose Reliance as an offset partner.

India signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of Indian Air Force equipment. The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore.

The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.  

With agency inputs