On Rafale row, Nirmala Sitharaman hits back at Congress with Quattrocchi jibe 

Nirmala Sitharaman.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Saturday, while facing a bombardment of questions on Rafale warplane deal at an event in Ahmedabad, said that whenever one thinks of the Congress, corruption comes to mind.

She said, “I wanted to tell in Parliament that we don’t have any connection or relation with AA (Anil Ambani), but Q (Ottavio Quattrocchi) is an uncle and RV (Robert Vadra) is brother-in-law (of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi), still …”

Quattrocchi was one of the alleged middlemen in the Bofors deal, in which kickbacks were allegedly paid. The scandal was one of the major reasons for Rajiv Gandhi’s loss in the 1989 general election.

Sitharaman made these comments at an event titled “India’s National Security and Importance of Rafale Deal”, organized by the Bharatiya Vichar Manch and Delhi-based Foundation for Public Awareness and Policy.

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