New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday took a fresh jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal, alleging that the joint venture of "Mr 56's friend" received "USD 20 billion actual benefits" through offset contracts in the deal.
Earlier on Friday, calling the multi-crore Rafale jet deal "the biggest example of crony capitalism", the Congress alleged the Modi government has "compromised national interest" by helping a private entity to the tune of crores of rupees in violation of rules.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi must give answers to the nation on the deal and his party wants him to speak on this issue in Parliament during the current monsoon session.
He alleged that the Modi government is "deceiving" the country by not giving answers about the award of the contract to a private player in this "mother of all defence deals".
The government has been rejecting all allegations about the Rafale deal. The Congress leader told reporters that shocking revelations have brought out lies of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman about the award of Rs 30,000 crore 'defence offset contract' to Reliance Defence as part of this deal.
"The culture of crony capitalism is the DNA of the Modi government. It is truer than ever in case of the Rs 60,145 crore Rafale deal," he said.
"The art of deceiving India is the Modi government's mantra in this mother of all defence deals. Intrigue, conspiracy, deception and loss to public exchequer have marred the unilateral purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft by the government," Surjewala said. "Rs 1,30,000 crore lies is being peddled by Modi government. Reliance Defence has claimed to have secured the offset contract from Dassault Aviation (maker of Rafale jets) for Rs 30,000 crore and a consequent 'lifecycle cost contract' of Rs 1 lakh crore," he said.
The Congress leader said even Dassault Aviation in its annual report for 2016-17 has claimed that offset contract is being executed by Reliance, while the defence minister has declared that Dassault Aviation has not awarded the offset contract.
The BJP on Friday dismissed the Congress' fresh attack on the Modi government over the Rafale deal, saying it is repeating same claims in frustration after its allegations were "proved" wrong by Union ministers and also the French government.