Who said what after former French president Francois Hollande`s remarks on Rafale deal

Hours after former French President Francois Hollande's reported remarks on the Rafale deal, the Opposition launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he has "betrayed" the country and endangered national security by hiding crucial facts.

The slamming followed after a French media report quoted Hollande as purportedly saying that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale jet fighter deal. Hollande said that Dassault Aviation was given no choice but to partner with Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence for the offset clause in the Rafale fighter jet deal.

In an interview to a media house, Hollande on a question about who selected Reliance as a partner and why, said it was the Indian government that proposed Reliance's name and Dassault had no choice but to take the company given to it.

Quoting an article, published by French journal Mediapart, ANI reported, "We did not have a say in that. The Indian government proposed this service group, and Dassault negotiated with Ambani. We did not have a choice, we took the interlocutor we were given," said Hollande.

Who said what after the report surfaced:

PM Modi had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after holding talks with the then French president Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris. The opposition has been accusing the government of choosing Reliance Defence over state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to benefit the private firm though it did not have any experience in the aerospace sector.