Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday called Congress president Rahul Gandhi a “serial liar” and described the purchase of Rafale jets as an important decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “in the public interest to boost national security”.

Rahul Gandhi had quoted the Chief Operating Officer of Dassault: “It was imperative and obligatory for Dassault Aviation to accept this compensation in order to obtain the Rafale India export contract.”

Gandhi described the alliance between Reliance Group and Dassault as a “compensation” for the purchase of Rafale. Following this, Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Tappier said Reliance represents 10 per cent of the offset investments under the Rafale deal.

Piyush Goyal quoted the Dassault CEO to assert that they chose Reliance “out of their own volition” and in any case, Reliance is only 10 per cent of the offsets. The Minister said offsets comprise a whole range of obligations and Dassault will negotiate independently.

“The CEO of Dassault Aviation has clarified that since the implementation of offsets was an obligation, they chose the partners to implement the offsets. Offsets have nothing to do with the current supply of aircraft. The CEO has confirmed that they chose a particular company out of their own volition,” said Goyal.

“Misinterpretations are being made of a communication to the labour union of the company that under the offsets, we are obliged to manufacture components in India. Merely ten per cent of the Dassault venture will be made by this company (Reliance). There are other companies such as DRDO.”

Goyal labelled Rahul Gandhi a “serial liar” who is misrepresenting facts on Rafale deal.

“We have of late been experiencing the activities of a serial liar. The country’s national interest and security is paramount. The government expedited the purchase of crucial defence equipment and negotiated terms far better than UPA,” said Goyal.

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