Prime Minister Narendra Modi “should clarify if what the ex-French President is saying is true or false,” Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday, sustaining his attack on the government over former French president Francois Hollande’s reported remarks on the Rafale jet deal.

“For the first time, an ex- French President is calling our PM a thief,” Gandhi said at a press conference held a day after Hollande was quoted by French website ‘Mediapart’ as saying that the Indian government proposed the name of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group as French company Dassault Aviation’s offset partner for the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal.

The defence ministry said on Friday that neither the Indian nor the French government were involved in the commercial decision.