PM to visit Odisha and Chhattisgarh on Saturday, to launch new projects

Preferring to look the other way in the wake of severe attack from Congress President Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale deal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he would be visiting Odisha and Chhattisgarh on Saturday.

"I look forward to being with my sisters and brothers of Odisha tomorrow. I would visit Talcher to join the programme marking the commencement of work in the Talcher Fertilizer Plant,"  he tweeted late  Friday evening.

"I will also be in Jharsuguda to inaugurate the local airport," the Prime Minister said.

"Various projects including the Garjanbahal coal mines and the Jharsuguda-Barapali-Sardega rail link will be dedicated to the nation. The projects in Odisha will benefit the energy sector and enhance connectivity," he wrote.

Prime Minister will be also visiting poll-bound Chhattisgarh.

"I shall be in Janjgir Champa where I will lay the foundation stone for highway projects and a railway line. I would also visit exhibitions on handloom and agriculture, sectors where Chhattisgarh has done well under Raman Singhji (Chief Minister),"

Prime Minister tweeted, Referring to former French President Francois Hollande's remarks that the Indian government had insisted on making Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence a partner for Dassault Aviation to supply Rafale aircraft for India, Mr Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "The PM personally negotiated & changed the Rafale deal behind closed doors. Thanks to Fran?ois Hollande, we now know he personally delivered a deal worth billions of dollars to a bankrupt Anil Ambani....The PM has betrayed India. He has dishonoured the blood of our soldiers".

The French government, however, in a statement on Friday evening said French companies "have the full freedom to choose the Indian partner companies".

"The French government is in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners who have been, are being, or will be selected by French companies," it said.