Stepping attack over the Rafale deal, RaGa calls HAL a strategic asset

Rahul Gandhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi yesterday described HAL as a "strategic asset" in aerospace, saying the country owed a debt to it, as he stepped up his campaign against the Modi government over the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Reaching out to present and former employees of the defence PSU at an interaction with them here, Rahul said work done by HAL for the country was tremendous. "....HAL is a strategic asset in aerospace, not an ordinary or regular company," he said at the event. He added that he was interacting with the employees to understand how to make "this strategic asset" more effective "so that when we come to power, we will do it more aggressively".

Rahul's interaction is part of his onslaught against the Centre over the Rafale deal in which he alleges HAL had been overlooked in the offsets contracts with French aerospace firm Dassault Aviation preferring Anil Ambani's company.

The Congress has also been demanding answers on why HAL was not involved in the deal as finalised during the UPA, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of snatching jobs of people of Karnataka. However, the BJP and Reliance Defence have dismissed all the allegations as false.

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