'HAL had 70 years of experience, Anil Ambani had 10 days': Rahul Gandhi attacks govt on Rafale deal

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday yet again attacked the Narendra Modi government over the Rafale deal row, in which the government has been accused of choosing Reliance Defence over state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to benefit the private firm though it did not have any experience in the aerospace sector. [caption id=“attachment_5259001” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress President Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] Launching a scathing attack on the prime minister, Gandhi was quoted by ANI as saying: “Modi had said I am the chowkidar of the nation, so this chowkidar put the money of youth and the air force in the pockets of Anil Ambani, who has a debt of 45, 000 crore on him, just like Vijay Mallya (sic).” Gandhi also questioned the government, asking why HAL was denied the Rafale contract and the contract was handed over to Ambani’s Reliance Defence, a firm which Gandhi said was set up ten days prior to when the deal was made. “HAL was given the Rafale contract to generate jobs. HAL had 70 years of experience, Anil Ambani had 10 days,” Gandhi said. Earlier in the day, the Congress president had tweeted, “To every Air Force officer and Jawan who has served India, to the family of every martyred Indian fighter pilot and every person who ever worked for HAL, we hear your pain. We understand how you feel. We will bring to justice all those who dishonoured and stole from you.” Gandhi has been accusing the Modi government and the prime minister of indulging in crony capitalism besides violating procedures in the Rafale deal. On Monday, he had said the country’s chowkidar (Modi) snatched money away from the poor and handed it over to industrialist Anil Ambani. With inputs from agencies