The Congress on Friday cited reports in French and Indian press about Reliance Entertainment jointly producing a film with former French President Francois Hollande’s partner Julie Gayet as an instance of quid pro quo, and encouragement of private interests by the government in the offset contract for the Rafale jet fighter aircraft. It reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe ofthe purchase agreement.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said this is another ‘sub-plot’ of this magnum opus film — ‘Rafale Scam’.

Unilateral deal

“The nation now knows why the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, didn’t need a prior Cabinet Committee of Security to ratify his unilateral deal to buy 36 Rafale aircraft in Paris, because a film agreement was already being signed behind the sets of the magnum opus called Rafale Scam,” Singhvi said.

Singhvi said media reports reflect that the company or the group which is the beneficiary of the ₹30,000-crore offset contract in the Rafale Deal signed a film production contract with the actress and the then French President Francois Hollande’s partner Julie Gayet, just two days before the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PM Modi for delivering 36 Rafale aircraft.

“So who is Julie Gayet? Since 2015, the French media is agog with stories of how actor and a businesswomen Julie Gayet uses her enormous influence as a tenant of the Elysee Palace and as a partner of the former French President Francois Hollande. Two days before the French President was to travel to India for the Republic Day ceremony, in 2016, Reliance Entertainment and Julie Gayet’s firm, Rouge International, announced the joint production of a French film called ‘Tout La-Haut’.

“It is now public knowledge that the head of this group accompanied Narendra Modi to Paris when the 36 Rafale aircraft agreement was signed on April 10h, 2015. This agreement was a cherry on the cake on the murkier deals involving the entire saga of the Rafale Scam,” said Singhvi.

According to Singhvi, this was part of the “package” and sealed the ₹30,000-crore offset contract and ₹1,00,000-crore ‘life cycle contract’ between the Reliance Defence and Rafale’s Dassault Aviation.

“The Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman’s assertion that no allotment of ‘offset contract’ was made has been exposed by the French Defence Minister, Florence Parly, herself. On October 27, 2017, the French Defence Minister met Sitharaman in New Delhi and laid the foundation of Reliance factory in the afternoon to execute offsets in Nagpur, along with Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Anil Ambani,” said Singhvi.

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