Rafale Deal: Mamata Banerjee accuses BJP of diverting issues

Trinamool Congress president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attacked Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government on Saturday accusing them of trying to ‘cover up’ the Rafale deal by diverting the attention of people. She was of the opinion that the government is increasing the prices of fuel so that people do not question the alleged discrepancies in the fighter jets deal.

Speaking with the journalists in Italy, Banerjee said, as reported by NDTV, “The price of petrol, diesel and gas is increasing everyday. In the name of demonetisation, they have siphoned off several crores. The party (BJP) is running on several crores of rupees. New information about the Rafale deal is emerging everyday.”

Assuring the journalists that by diverting the attention from important issues, the saffron party will not be able to stop the protests of TMC workers. She said, “But by doing this, they will not be able to stop our protests.” Adding on she also alleged that along with RSS, BJP is bringing leaders from other states in West Bengal to create problems in different districts.

Earlier former French president Francois Hollande had stated that Indian government proposed businessman Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rs. 58,000 crore Rafale jet fighter deal, as quoted by a French media house.

However, the French government said companies in France have full freedom to select Indian firms for the contract and the Rafale fighter jet deal was done based on similar policies.

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