Continuing his party's attack over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today asked the Centre if it can explain the "Reliance" over a leading business group with no experience in aerospace technology. "Can you explain "Reliance" on someone with nil experience in aerospace for Rafale deal?" Reliance Defence said its subsidiary Reliance Aerostructure and Dassault Aviation formed a joint venture, Dassault Reliance Aerospace, after a bilateral agreement between two private companies and "the Indian government has no role to play in this." Reliance Defence claimed that government policy of June 24, 2016 allows for 49 per cent FDI in the defence sector under the automatic route, without any prior approval. As the controversy escalated, France too on Wednesday said the Rafale fighter aircraft deal was in India's interest.

Source: India Today November 16, 2017 07:07 UTC