Rahul to address HAL employees on Rafale deal
Bengaluru, Oct 10: Seeking to step up his attack over the Rafale fighter jet deal, Congress President Rahul Gandhi is slated to meet on October 13 employees of the HAL, which the party has alleged was overlooked in the offsets contract with French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.
Karnataka unit Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao said Gandhi will talk to the employees of the city-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited about the controversial deal and also address a rally here.
Shri Rahul Gandhi will meet employees of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru on October 13. He will be talking about the controversial "#RafaleDeal, and will also address a party workers rally in the city, Karnataka Pradesh Congress tweeted quoting Rao as saying.
The Congress, which has been accusing the government of benefiting the Reliance Defence Ltd of Anil Ambani from the deal, has also been demanding answers on why the state-run aerospace major HAL was not involved in the deal as finalised during the UPA.
The party had been accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of snatching jobs of people of Karnataka by taking away the contract from HAL.
Gandhi had been saying that had HAL been selected in place of Reliance Defence it could have generated employment to scores of unemployed youth in the state.
The BJP has dismissed all allegations as false.
Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with then French President Francois Hollande on April 10, 2015, in Paris.
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Kerala govt sets up control rooms for assistance to Keralites in states bordering Pakistan
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The Kerala government on Friday said that it has opened control rooms at the Secretariat and NORKA department here to provide assistance and information to Keralites and students from the southern state living in the areas bordering Pakistan.
The control rooms were opened on the directions of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in view of the tense situation prevailing in the border states, a statement issued by his office said.
It also said that "there is no need to be worried" at the moment.
The government asked the Keralites in the state bordering Pakistan to follow the instructions given by the authorities and stay safe.
"If you need assistance, you can contact the control room number." it added.
The control room at the Secretariat can be reached through -- 0471-2517500/2517600, 0471-2322600 (fax) and cdmdkerala@kerala.gov.in., the statement said.
The Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NORKA) global contact center can be reached at 18004253939 (toll free number) and 00918802012345 (missed call from abroad), it said.
Pakistan's armed forces launched multiple attacks using drones and other munitions along the entire western border on the intervening night of May 8-9, which were "effectively repulsed", the Indian Army said on Friday.
Pakistani troops also resorted to "numerous ceasefire violations" along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Army said.
The developments followed the precise missile strikes carried out by the Indian armed forces on nine terror targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan early Wednesday under Operation Sindoor, in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives.
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