New Delhi: The Rafale controversy continues to rage not just in India but also in France where the issue is threatening to be a slugfest between the ruling party and the opposition.

Clarifying an interview given to AFP, the French government-owned media enterprise, French journalists have pointed out that former President Hollande’s statements were twisted to make it appear that he claimed that France “did not choose Reliance in any way”. When asked whether India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together, Hollande said he was unaware and “only Dassault can comment on this”.

However, it was clarified that Hollande was only answering questions which essentially said the Reliance suggestion was part of a “new formula” offered by the Indian Government. The Indian Express quoting from the extract of the AFP interview says, “…the name of Reliance Group had appeared as part of a new formula in negotiations over the Rafale deal, which was decided by the Modi Government when it came to power. Asked if he knew whether India put pressure for the Reliance Group to work with Dassault, Hollande said he was unaware and Dassault alone is capable of answering. as per AFP.”

The former President only reiterated what he had told Mediapart — “We didn’t have a say in that. It was the Indian government that proposed this service group. And Dassault negotiated with Ambani, we didn’t have a choice, we took the interlocutor given to us.”

Significantly, a worried French government has reacted. Jean Bapiste Lemoyne, French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, was quoted as saying that Hollande’s statement did not help France. He however did not contradict Hollande on the claim that the government of India recommended Reliance.A French radio interview quoted Le Point as saying the following, “I find that this little sentence, Hollande’s statement pronounced abroad, in the case of important international relations between France and India, does no service to anyone and does most of all, no service to France.” Jean Bapiste Lemoyne said on Radio J. “Because we are no longer in office, undermining the strategic partnership between India and France somewhere by making remarks that are obviously provoking controversy in India, is not up to the situation.”

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