Rafale deal a 'non-issue', opposition has vested interests: Rajnath Singh

Making light of the controversy around the Rafale deal, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday blamed the opposition for raking up the issue to gain  electoral capital ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

There was nothing to conceal about the fighter jet deal, Singh contended. He reiterated that the French government had issued a statement clarifying its official position, adding, “Congress is simply trying to snowball a non-issue for vested political interests.”

He maintained the Narendra Modi government had been transparent on the Rafale issue, yet the opposition continued to slap allegations without any basis. Singh was talking to the media on the occasion of the zonal inter-state council meeting Monday afternoon.

Recently, former French president Francois Hollande, who was in office when the multi-billion dollar deal was announced, was quoted saying that India had proposed the name of Reliance as the offset partner for French manufacturer Dassault. However, later Hollande clarified that only Dassault could comment if the Indian dispensation had put any pressure to further the cause of Reliance partnering with the French multinational.

The Modi government has been vociferously denying the opposition's charge that the Rafale deal was not transparent, asserting it to be a corporate tie-up between Reliance and Dassault and that the Indian government had no role to play.

Meanwhile, on the issue of Kashmir, Singh said the armed forces were giving a fitting reply to terrorists. He quipped Pakistan had been aiding violence in the valley.

Asked if India would initiate a dialogue with Pakistan on the contentious issue, the home minister maintained India had always been in favour of holding talks. 

This was the 21st sitting of the inter-state zonal council. The meeting was attended by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, his Uttarakhand counterpart Trivendra Singh Rawat, apart from senior ministers from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Singh maintained cooperative federalism had been strengthened through such zonal meetings. Under the Modi regime, the five zonal inter-state councils had resolved 428 issues of the total 680 vexed issues.

The meeting also reviewed the progress of the implementation of recommendations made at the previous meeting on density of roads, financial assistance required to combat left wing extremism, modernisation of police forces, leveraging central schemes for creating community assets in Bastar (Chhattisgarh), improvement of airport infrastructure, issues related to storage of food-grains, forest clearance and discrepancies in Bhagirathi Eco sensitive zone notification.

The council also discussed issues related to the procurement of coarse gains under the price support scheme (PSS) in central pool.