Indian politicians  commentators  and Social media  reacted  with hyper activity to former French President Francois Hollande’s revelation in an interview to a French news website, that the Narendra Modi government had asked the French government to nominate Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence Ltd as the partner for Dassault Aviation in the  Rs 58,000 crore Rafale jet fighter deal and neither France or Dassault had any choice in the matter.

It may be recalled that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had maintained a stance that the Indian government had absolutely no role in selecting the offset partner of Dassault Aviation, the maker of Rafale jets. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Paris had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after holding talks with then French President Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris.

The Opposition Congress and other parties  have  been accusing the government of choosing Reliance Defence over state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd for the deal, to benefit the Anil Ambani owned Reliance Defence though it did not have any experience in the aerospace sector.Reactions to Hollande’s revelations in an interview to a  french publication came thick and fast from leading Indian politicians, journalists and commentators.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted saying “The PM personally negotiated and changed the Rafale deal behind closed doors. Thanks to François Hollande, we now know he personally delivered a deal worth billions of dollars to a bankrupt Anil Ambani. The PM has betrayed India. He has dishonoured the blood of our soldiers.”

It maybe reaclled that earlier yesterday The Hindustan Times reported  that T Suvarna Raju, who headed state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited till as recently as September 1, 2018, had said that the Rafale fighter jets could have been built by HAL in India, “had the government managed to close the original negotiations” with Dassault Aviation. “When HAL can build a 25-tonne Sukhoi-30, a fourth-generation fighter jet that forms the mainstay of the air force, from raw material stage, then what are we talking about? We could have definitely done it (built the Rafale fighter jets),” HT quoted Raju as saying.

The report also said:Raju insisted that HAL has the ability to make advanced fighter jets and “would have been happy to give a guarantee” for the aircraft it producedRaju said HAL had maintained the Mirage-2000 aircraft, manufactured by Rafale maker Dassault Aviation, for the last 20 yearsHAL was also involved in the complex Mirage upgrade programmeRaju also admitted that HAL may not have been able to build the planes at the desired “cost-per-piece”, one of the reasons why that deal fell throughThe HT article, however, reported that a former chief of the Indian Air Force had said that making the Rafale jet would have been a challenge for HALEarlier on September 13, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had claimed that HAL “did not have the required capability to produce” Rafale fighter jets. Congress President Rahul Gandhi reacted to the report, saying Sithararam had been “caught lying again” and must resign. “The RM (Rafale Minister) tasked with defending corruption has been caught lying again. The former HAL Chief, TS Raju, has nailed her lie, that HAL didn’t have the capability to build the Rafale. Her position is untenable and she must resign,” tweeted the Congress President on Thursday.

The Government of India has maintained a studied silence, till the Ministry of Defence official twitter handle defended both the Government of India and the French government on the matter.