New Delhi: Former French president Francois Hollande revealed that the Indian government had proposed Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as India partner in the 36-fighter jet deal and that France had not been given a choice. However, the defence ministry spokesperson denied it. Meanwhile, Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted “the PM has betrayed India”.
French journal Mediapart quotes Francois Hollande as saying: “We did not have a say in this… the Indian government proposed this service group and Dassault negotiated with (Anil) Ambani group. We did not have a choice, we took the partner who was given to us.” The government has been claiming that it was Dassault that had picked the Anil Ambani group as its India partner and that the government had nothing to do with what was essentially a commercial pact between two private parties.
It must be noted that Ambani’s Reliance Defence has no prior experience in aerospace manufacturing.