Truth cannot have two versions: Arun Jaitley questions ex- French President Hollande on Rafale

Countering Hollande, Jaitley wrote in his blog post: "Truth cannot have two versions."

In a major development, ex-French President Francois Hollande has said that the Indian government had asked the French government to nominate Indian industrialist Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence Industries as its partner in the Rafale deal.

Hollande was quoted as saying by French website Mediapart.

Jaitley further said: "The French Government and M/s Dassault Aviation have categorically denied the correctness of the former President’s first statement. The French Government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are taken by the company and not the Government. Dassault Aviation itself has suggested that they have entered into multiple contracts with several public sector and private sector companies with regard to the offset contracts and the decision is entirely theirs."

Jaitley said the former French President is countering statement made against him with regard to a conflict of interest in his dealings with the Reliance Defence.

"Without commenting on the correctness or otherwise of a controversy in the French media, it may be mentioned that the former French President, Hollande, is countering statement made against him with regard to a conflict of interest in his dealing with the Reliance Defence. The accuracy of the statements made by the individuals may be questioned but circumstances never lie," the Indian Minister said.

The Congress has been attacking the Centre and the PM over Hollande's remarks on the Rafale issue.

Jaitley took a swipe at the Congress for the party's remarks against the PM.

He said: "It is no coincidence that on 30.8.2018 Shri Rahul Gandhi had tweeted that “Globalised corruption. This #Rafale aircraft really does fly far and fast! It's also going to drop some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks. The former French President’s first statement rhymes with Rahul Gandhi’s prediction."

"The Congress Party’s official handle on 31.8.2018 had carried the tweet of one of its leader 'It is evident that Anil Ambani bribed President Hollande through his actor-partner to get the Dassault partnership.' For the Congress Party to allege that a former President had been bribed by an Indian business group and then use him as a primary witness, particularly when he is facing criticism for an alleged conflict of interest within his own country," Jaitley said.

Rahul Gandhi reacted to his blog post and demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe on the Rafale deal.

Gandhi tweeted: "Mr Jetlie’s speciality is his ability to spin '2 truths', or lies, with fake self righteousness & indignation to defend the indefensible. It’s high time he, the RM & our PM stop lying and call a JPC to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the #RafaleScam." 

Congress leader Manish Tewari reacted to the blog post and tweeted: " Blog Min @arunjaitley has got it wrong again.Rafale Deal was finalised between @narendramodi & @fhollande .Bit convoluted by even Mr. Jaitley’s usually stretched logic that @fholande would cut his nose to spite his face when he said that GOI presented it with a fait accompli."