Anil Ambani writes letter to Rahul Gandhi on Rafale deal

TIL Desk/National/Mumbai/ Billionaire Anil Ambani has written to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi refuting allegations of his Reliance Group lacking experience to get the Rafale fighter jet deal and said the government had no role in French Group Dassault picking up his company as a local partner.

In a two-page letter written on December 12, 2017, Ambani explained to Gandhi, who has been attacking the government over the Rafale deal, why his Reliance Group bagged the multi-billion dollar project.

Invoking his family’s “respectful relationship” with the Gandhi family over generations, Ambani said he was “personally saddened” by the “unfortunate statements” against him and his group by several functionaries of the Congress party.

“Not only do we have the necessary experience but we are also the leaders in several important areas of defence manufacture,” he said in the letter written on the last day of campaigning for the Gujarat assembly polls that was marked by political mud-slinging over the Rafale fighter jet deal.

He said Reliance Defence has the largest shipyard in the private sector at Pipavav in Gujarat and is currently building five Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Indian Navy and 14 Fast Patrol Vessels for the Indian Coast Guard.