Former French President’s Remarks ‘Orchestrated’, Came Soon After Rahul Gandhi’s Tweet: Jaitley On Rafale Deal

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched an attack on the Congress today in an interview with news agency ANI, saying former French President Francois Hollande’s comment on the Rafale deal comes soon after a tweet by Rahul Gandhi in which he mentioned he is “going to drop some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks”.

Questioning the timing, he alleged that the attack on the government over the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters was ‘orchestrated’.

"I think he (Rahul Gandhi) is in some kind of a revenge mode. I won't be surprised if the whole thing is being orchestrated. On August 30, why did he (Rahul) tweet "Just wait for a while, some bombs are going to be burst in Paris"? And then what happens is in perfect rhythm with what he predicted," Jaitley said.

“Yeh jo jugalbandihai, mere paas sabot nahin hai, lekin mann mein prashn khada hota hai. (I don’t have evidence to back this but this apparent duet (between Gandhi and Hollande), does raise a question),” he added.

Soon after Hollande claimed that the Indian government had suggested an offset partner for the deal, he has backtracked his statement and told Agence France-Presse that “only they can comment on this”.

In the interview, Jaitley said the Comptroller and Auditor General will to decide whether the planes are being bought at a higher rate or not.

The finance minister also suggested that the former French President could have made his first statement to avoid allegations of corruption on him.