Rafale documents recovered from Robert Vadra's friend during raid in 2016, claims BJP

Under repeated attacks from the Congress over the Rafale controversy, the BJP on Tuesday hit out at the main opposition party alleging documents related to the purchase of fighter jets from France were recovered from the residence of arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, who is a close friend of Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. ANI Photo

NEW DELHI: Under repeated attacks from the Congress over the Rafale controversy, the BJP on Tuesday hit out at the main opposition party alleging that documents related to the purchase of fighter jets from France were recovered from the residence of arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, who is a close friend of Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra. "Rafale documents were recovered from Robert Vadra's close friend Sanjay Bhandari during a raid in 2016 at his house, how did these confidential documents reach there?" BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra was quoted by ANI a saying. Patra claimed Bhandari's company Offset India Solutions was red flagged in 2014 by the Modi government. Dragging the Gandhi family into the intensifying political row over the fighter aircraft deal, the BJP has alleged that the UPA government had called off the multi-billion dollar deal after a private company linked to Vadra's friend was not chosen as a broker. The Rafale controversy took a new turn last week after Hollande, who was French president when the Rs 58,000 crore deal was announced, was quoted as saying by French publication 'Mediapart' on Friday that France was given "no choice" on selection of the Indian partner for Dassault and the Indian government proposed the name of Reliance as offset partner for the French aerospace giant. Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with Hollande on April 10, 2015, in Paris. A day later, when asked by AFP whether India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together, Hollande said he was unaware and "only Dassault can comment on this". Referring to Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's statements in Pakistan long back that Narendra Modi needs to be removed as the prime minister, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra drew a parallel between the opposition party and Pakistani leaders, saying "both want Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed from Indian politics". He read out tweets attacking Modi posted by Pakistani leaders, including its Prime Minister Imran Khan and present and former ministers, and said it looked like they have been campaigning for Congress president Rahul Gandhi. (With inputs from PTI)