Rahul Gandhi assaults PM Modi: India's Commander in Thief

New Delhi, Sep 24 In a veiled reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi called him 'India's Commander in Thief' and shared a video on French-based journal Mediapart's recent reporton the Rafale deal.

The video, made by French digital video publisher Brut, features the main points of Mediapart's meeting with French President Francois Hollande.

Hollande has claimed said the French government didn't have a say in picking the Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence for the Rafale bargain.

"The Indian government proposed this specialist organization and Dassault consulted with Ambani. We didn't have a decision, we took the questioner we were given," said Hollande to the French investigative paper.

Hollande's comment unleashed a fresh tug of war between the BJP and Congress.

"President (Former) Francois Hollande ought to also enlighten us how the cost went up from 590 crores in 2012 to 1690 crores in 2015 for each Rafale warrior fly? Heightening of an insignificant 1100 crores. I am certain the Euro comparable would not be an issue to ascertain," tweeted Congress leader Manish Tewari.

Refering to clashing media reports on Francois Hollande`s claims, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that that there was "no association as proposed by the previous French President". Resistance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman likewise repeated comparable perspectives, focusing on that Dassault and Reliance got into a concession to their own.

India is currently verifying the French report. The Ministry of Defence representative, in any case, reiterated that neither India nor the French government had any say in the business choice.