Rafale Deal: Congress Protests Outside Reliance Office in Mumbai

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Nov 6 (ANI): The Congress party, under the leadership of Sanjay Nirupam, protested against the controversial Rafale deal outside the Reliance office here on the eve of Diwali on Tuesday.

"We are protesting against the corruption that happened in the Rafale deal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has still not revealed the price of the Rafale jet. Another reason why we are protesting today is that the French company has given Rs 284 crore to Reliance today as part of this corrupt deal," Nirupam told media here.

The protesters even had a little scuffle with the local police during the protest.

"The BJP is more concerned about changing names, not doing work. The BJP has failed in fulfilling the promises made by Prime Minister Modi in 2014," Congress leader Charan Singh Sapra told ANI.

In 2012, during the UPA tenure, India had planned to buy 18 off-the-shelf jets from France, with 108 others to be assembled in the country by HAL.

The BJP-led government scrapped the UPA's plan in 2015 and announced that it would buy 36 "ready-to-fly" Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation.

The Rafale jet deal controversy has been on the boil over the last few months. The Congress and other opposition parties have been alleging irregularities in the high-profile deal. (ANI)

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)