Bengaluru: Amid the Rafale deal controversy, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday visited the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in Bengluru and interacted with some former and existing employees of the state-run aerospace and defence company. Gandhi spoke to the employees on the sidelines of the defence major not getting the offset contract from the Rafale fighter deal. He applauded the employees for their work and said he wanted to work with them in making HAL more effective. Reaching out to the employees of the defence PSU at an interaction with them here, Gandhi said, work done by HAL for the country was tremendous and the country owed debt to it for ‘protecting us’ and creating a scientific vision. “HAL is a strategic asset in aerospace, not an ordinary or regular company,” Gandhi said at the event organised at the Minsk Square near the head quarters in Bengaluru earlier today.

After the meet-up, Gandhi said he was interacting with the employees to understand how to make ‘this strategic asset’ (HAL) more effective “so that when we come to power, we will do it more aggressively.” Gandhi’s visit to the defence PSU was a part of his campaign against Narendra Modi government over the Rafale deal which he alleges that HAL was ignored in the contracts with French aerospace company Dassault Aviation preferring Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence Ltd. Congress has also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government of snatching jobs of people of Karnataka by taking away the contract from HAL.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with Reliance Defence have denied all the allegations. PM Modi, in April 2015, announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with then French President Francois Hollande, in Paris.

Earlier in the day, Congress state spokesperson Ravi Gowda told news agency IANS, “Rahul will meet and interact with about 100 working and retired employees of HAL at Minsk Square facing its corporate office in the city centre on Saturday evening to ascertain their views and concerns on the company not getting the Rafale contract.”