Rafale Deal: Francois Hollande Says His Govt Had No Choice Selecting Local Partner

Former French President Francois Hollande shocked everyone with his comment over the Rafale deal fiasco that his government was not given any choice to select a local partner for French aeronautics company Dassault Aviation, which is responsible for manufacturing 36 jet aircrafts for India.

Hollande added he sealed the Rafale deal with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on his visit to the country during Republic Day celebrations in 2016 unlike the media reports that Reliance Entertainment signed a deal with his partner Julie Gayet two days before his visit to produce a film.

The statement of Hollande comes at such a time when the Opposition as well as others are criticizing Modi government for the choice of Reliance, which has no adequate experience.

Earlier, Reliance confirmed in a letter to Congress President Rahul Gandhi that Modi government had no role in Dassault picking the company as local partner. Similarly, government too has denied such allegations.

Meanwhile, Defence Ministry tweeted both the governments had no role in the commercial decision.

The Rafale deal was signed on 23 September 2016 and India would procure 36 Rafale aircraft from France. A month later JV of Reliance and Dassault was announced in which Reliance Defence had a 51 percent stake in Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd. The rest share is owned by Dassault Aviation.

Dassault’s Eric Trappier and Anil Ambani laid the foundation stone for a production facility in October 2017.