Rafale Deal Controversy Heats Up in India, Ambani Sends Legal Notices

Did Reliance Group get undue benefits from the Rafale deal signed with India? With allegations of getting massive kickbacks from the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group has sent legal notices to various Congress leaders demanding them to “cease and desist” from levelling such baseless charges. 

The Congress leaders said they will not be silenced by such notices, which have been sent to several leaders of the party. The notices have been served amid a month-long offensive planned by the Congress on the Rafale deal under which top party leaders will be holding press conferences and demonstrations across the country targeting PM Narendra Modi.

Reliance Group has denied the allegations relating to the deal under which France’s Dassault is supplying the fighter jets and has entered into a joint venture with an Anil Ambani-led group firm to meet its offset requirement of the contract.

Ambani recently wrote to Congress president Rahul Gandhi on the deal saying his party has been “misinformed, misdirected and misled” by “malicious vested interests and corporate rivals” on the issue.

Speaking to reporters in Chandigarh, Congress MP Sunil Jakhar said he has received the notice asking him to refrain from “making allegations” on the Rafale deal. Jakhar, however, asserted that the Rafale matter was a serious national security issue for his party and alleged the legal notice was the result of a “nexus between the BJP and the corporate world”.

“It is a dark day for the democracy. An industrialist serving legal notice to an elected representative is a serious issue,” Jakhar said while asserting that the Congress will continue to fight the nexus between capitalists and BJP.

The notices have come days before a series of press conferences lined by the Congress across the country from August 25 to September 6 on Rafale deal. The party has also planned district and state-level agitations starting September 7. The cautionary ‘cease and desist’ notice has been served on behalf of three group firms — Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Defence and Reliance Aerostructure Ltd.

“As a cautionary measure, our clients strongly urge you to avoid, cease and desist from making any unverified, speculative, incorrect, false, frivolous, misleading derogatory and defamatory statements against them on such a sensitive subject relating to national security,” one Congress leader quoted from the notice.

“At the same time, our clients reserve the right to take recourse to all remedies available to them under the law of land for the protection of their name, brand, reputation and goodwill in case of any scurrilous statements being made against them,” the notice further said.

More News at EurAsian Times

Source:PTI