Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group has accused the Congress of resorting to “blatant lies and distorted facts” and denied any wrong-doing, studiously avoiding any direct reference to Rahul Gandhi who has been spearheading the Rafale offensive.

“It is deeply unfortunate that the Reliance Group and its chairman, Mr Anil Ambani, are continuously being dragged into a political battle in view of the impending state and general elections in the country,” a spokesperson for Reliance Infrastructure said, hours after Rahul had launched a fresh attack on the basis of a report in The Wire, the news portal.

“The Congress party has today once again resorted to blatant lies and distorted facts to mount an unwarranted campaign of calumny and falsehoods against the Reliance Group and its chairman…,” the spokesperson added.

“Dassault’s investment in Reliance Airport Developers Limited (RADL) has no link whatsoever with the Rafale contract between the Government of India and France on a government-to-government basis, where all 36 aircraft are to be exported from France. This investment is an independent arms-length transaction based on fair market valuation of the land and other assets of the Company, and the future business potential in the airports and related infrastructure sector,” the Reliance Infrastructure spokesperson said in a statement.

“The RADL transaction was completed in full compliance with applicable FDI and all other rules and regulations and the information has been disclosed in the public domain since December 2017 onwards, nearly a year ago.

“The Congress party has falsely alleged that the funds invested in RADL have been used for the purchase of land at Mihan, Nagpur for the Dassault-Reliance 49:51 JV.

“The payment for the land at MIHAN, Nagpur, Maharashtra was made from 2015 to 2017, much before the investment by Dassault in RADL.”

The Reliance Infrastructure spokesperson repeatedly mentioned Anil Ambani by name but no direct reference to Rahul was made. Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group had filed a series of defamation cases against media organisations and several Congress leaders.

“The Congress party’s attacks on Mr Anil Ambani in his individual capacity are shameful and deplorable, especially as all transactions with Dassault have been made by Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, a publicly listed company with over a million small shareholders, including more than 10 per cent ownership by public financial institutions such as LIC, GIC and other insurance companies, and over 15 per cent ownership with reputed global institutional investors,” the Reliance Infrastructure spokesperson said.

“The Congress party’s continued lies and falsehoods cannot change the truth that Mr Anil Ambani has not entered into any transactions personally with Dassault and nor has he derived any personal benefit from any transactions,” the statement added.