Amid a raging political row over the Rafale deal, France on Thursday said there was “absolutely no pressure” on it for selecting an offset partner and asserted that there was “nothing stronger” in its system than an inter-governmental agreement to protect the contract.
The French government’s strong assertion comes a day after the much-awaited CAG report on the controversy-hit contract showed that the Rafale deal signed by the Modi government to procure 36 fighter jets from France’s Dassault got 2.86 per cent cheaper price than what was negotiated during the previous UPA regime in 2007.
At an interaction with a select group of journalists here, French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler asserted that there was “nothing stronger” in his country’s system than an inter-governmental agreement that protects the deal.
