Following the release of the report by a daily which cited a Defence Ministry that stated “such parallel discussions by the PMO has weakened the negotiating position of MoD and Indian Negotiating Team” Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the conduct of the publishing saying, “If a newspaper publishes a noting then the ethics of journalism will demand that the newspaper publishes the then Defence Minister’s reply as well.”
While speaking in Lok Sabha in the matter, Sitharaman called the report “motivated” and said that “it is like flogging a dead horse.”
Earlier, the then defence secretary G Mohan Kumar, who wrote, “RM may pl. see. It is desirable that such discussions be avoided by the PMO as it undermines our negotiating position seriously.” at the end of the note was quoted by news agency ANI saying, “It (MoD dissent note on Rafale negotiations) had nothing to do with price. It was about sovereign guarantees and general terms and conditions”.
On Friday morning while citing the Hindu report, in a scathing attack to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi remarked that “PM stole 30,000 crore of public money”. he further added that the Defence ministry note claims parallel negotiations by PMO.
“Yesterday, Mr. Modi gave a lengthy sermon, why doesn’t he answer these questions? Why doesn’t he state the reason for parallel negotiations?”, the chief of the grandold party had commented.
