Anil Ambani to Rahul Gandhi: Congress misinformed, misdirected on Rafale deal

Caught in a political storm over the Rafale aircraft deal, Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani said the Congress party has been "misinformed, misdirected and misled" by "malicious vested interests and corporate rivals" on the purchase of fighter jets from France.

Anil Ambani. Photo: AFP

MUMBAI: Caught in a political storm over the Rafale aircraft deal, Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani said the Congress party has been "misinformed, misdirected and misled" by "malicious vested interests and corporate rivals" on the purchase of fighter jets from France. Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly alleging that the cost of Rafale jets was inflated under the new terms of the contract and that the contract was earlier given to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed it over to "his friend Anil Ambani". Ambani wrote a letter to Gandhi to express "deep anguish" on his repeated attacks on him and termed all the allegations as "baseless, ill-informed and unfortunate", a Reliance Group statement said adding that he explained to the Congress leader the role of Reliance in offset exports and work share with the Rafale-manufacturing French firm Dassault. "Anil Ambani clarified to Gandhi that Rafale fighter jets are not being manufactured by Reliance or the Dassault Reliance Joint Venture. All 36 planes are to be 100 per cent manufactured in France, and exported from France to India," the statement said. It said that Ambani clarified that not a single component worth a single rupee is to be manufactured by Reliance for these 36 Rafale jets and that the allegations relating to "lack of experience" are, thus, irrelevant. The billionaire told Gandhi that there is no contract from the Ministry of Defence to any Reliance Group company related to 36 Rafale aircraft, thus his allegations of Reliance benefitting by thousands of crores by the deal is a "figment of imagination" which is promoted by "vested interests”. There exists no contract between the Government of India and the Reliance Group, he said. “Our role is limited to offset exports/export obligations. More than 100 medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) will participate in this, along with public sector undertakings like BEL and Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO). This role strengthens Indian manufacturing capabilities, and is in pursuance of the Offsets Policy introduced by the Congress-led UPA Government itself from 2005 onwards," Ambani wrote. Ambani said Gandhi’s charge that Reliance Defence was set up 10 days before the 10 April 2015 announcement in Paris by both Governments—of the intention to purchase 36 French-manufactured Rafale jets—links factually incorrect information, and is thus irrelevant and completely false. “The Reliance Group announced its decision to enter the defence manufacturing sector in December 2014-January 2015, months before the intention for purchase of Rafale aircraft. In February 2015, we informed the Indian Stock Exchanges of the companies we have incorporated," Ambani said.