Rafale Deal: While Rahul Gandhi has been batting for HAL, Dassault Aviation dropped the company from the Rafale deal in the UPA era

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been escalating attack on Prime Minister Modi and ruling NDA since time purported statements of former French President Francois Hollande over Rafale deal surfaced in French Media. Gandhi has been claiming that Reliance was chosen as offset partner of Dassault Aviation for manufacturing Rafale fighter jets and contract was ‘snatched’ from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) as PM Modi wanted to favor Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group and in turn benefit himself and BJP. However, even as Congress President is batting for HAL, fact of matter is that Dassault Aviation h dropped company from Rafale deal in UPA era.

On February 13, 2012, media widely reported tie-up between Reliance Industries and France’s Dassault Aviation. announcement of tie-up came less than two weeks after Dassault’s Rafale fighter jets emerged as lowest bidder to supply Indian Air Force with 126 fighter jets.

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Furrmore, Dassault Aviation in its 2013 Annual Report h stated that Rafale negotiations with India were taking a ‘long time’ because of “coming to agreements with local companies, and in particular with our main partner, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), on work to be done in India'.

Annual Report of Dassault charts out reason  company steered away from HAL for Rafale deal. statement points out to  fact that it was a sheer strategic decision by Dassault Aviation and not something forced down by NDA regime, as has been claimed by Rahul Gandhi and his party.

Rahul Gandhi's support for HAL came after T Suvarna Raju, ex boss of HAL claimed that Rafale fighter jets could have been built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in India and urged Union government to put out files in public. However, TS Raju also said that HAL may not have built planes at desired "cost-per-piece”. very next day, however, government sources dismissed TS Raju's statement as "factually incorrect", saying re were many major area of disagreements between HAL and Dassault. 

Earlier on September 22, blunting opposition's claim on Rafale, Former French President Francois Hollande issued a clear denial and said he was 'unaware' on India putting pressure for taking Reliance on board for  deal. When asked by French news agency AFP wher India h put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work toger, Hollande said he was “unaware” and “only Dassault can comment on this.”

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An article in a French journal triggered a massive controversy as it h a statement of Hollande purportedly saying that it was Indian government that proposed Reliance's name and Dassault h no choice but to take company given to it.

After controversy over Rafale broke out, Dassault Aviation, in a press release, stated that to choose Reliance Group as a partner was its own choice. Furrmore, French government has also dismissed former President Francois Hollande’s claim and mentioned it was a private to private negotiation.