‘#RahulKaPuraKhandanChor’: Nirmala Reacts to Rahul’s Allegations

“We’re absolutely convinced that the Prime Minister of India is corrupt,” Rahul Gandhi said at a press conference.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi renewed his attack on Narendra Modi on Saturday over the Rafale deal.

(Photo: The Quint)

Sharpening his attack on Narendra Modi a day after former French President Francois Hollande claimed that the Modi government chose Reliance for the Rafale deal, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday, 22 September, "We're absolutely convinced that the Prime Minister of India is corrupt."

Responding to Rahul Gandhi's allegations, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman posted a tweet with the hashtag '#RahulKaPuraKhandanChor', while stating that there is no corruption in the Modi government.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi asked PM Modi to clarify if what the ex-French President is saying is true or false.

“For the first time, an ex-French president is calling our PM a thief... This question is now clearly settled in the minds of Indian people that ‘<i>desh ka chowkidaar</i>’ chor hai.”

Rahul Gandhi

Taking a dig at former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, the Congress president said:

“The former Defence Minister (Manohar Parrikar) earlier said that when the contract was changed, he didn’t know about it. He was buying fish in the markets of Goa.”

Rahul Gandhi

Earlier, in a vociferous attack on Twitter, Gandhi accused PM Modi and Anil Ambani of jointly carrying out a “one hundred thirty thousand crore surgical strike on the Indian Defence forces.”

Gandhi's salvos on Saturday follow his earlier attack on the Modi government, wherein he had said Modi had "betrayed India".

In a shocking development on the Rafale deal fiasco, Hollande had told a French website, Mediapart, that his government was not given a choice in selecting a local partner for Dassault Aviation, the French aeronautics company responsible for manufacturing the jets for India.

Hollande told the publication that it was the Modi government that had pitched the name of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as the potential partner for Dassault in making the Rafale jets for India.

Congress Leaders Join Rahul Gandhi in Condemning Modi Govt

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on 21 September that “the defence minister had been called out again”.

The same day, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal had said the government has denied the claim, but “we don’t expect anything better from them”.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had tweeted his video saying “truth wins”.

The Ministry of Defence spokesperson, however, tweeted that Hollande’s claims were being verified. The tweet further said that neither the Indian nor the French government had any role to play in the commercial decision.

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As the development fuelled criticisms that the government had favoured the Anil Ambani-led company in making Reliance the local partner, Twitter was abuzz with reactions.

Subramanian Swamy said Hollande had invited himself into the case.

Arun Shourie’s Interview to The Quint

Economist and journalist Arun Shourie also spoke to The Quint, saying that this development confirms what critics have been saying for a while.