Manohar Parrikar dismissed MoD’s fear that negotiations over Rafale were weakened by calling it an “over reaction”

New Delhi [India], Feb 8 (ANI): Government on Friday dismissed a media report that claimed that Defence Ministry officials had raised concerns over the direct involvement of Prime Minister’s Office in the Rafale deal and said that the report failed to publish response of the former minister Manohar Parrikar’s note to the MoD over negotiations in the Rafale deal.
According to the document accessed by ANI, the media report had given half picture of the full story as it did not highlight the file noting of the former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who had dismissed concerns raised by the officials of his ministry in the Rafale aircraft negotiations saying that the fear was an “over reaction.” He also called for further consultations to clarify any points.
A media report published on Friday claimed that the Defence Ministry officials had raised concerns over the direct involvement of prime Minister’s Office in the Rafale deal saying “parallel discussion by the PMO had weakened the negotiating position of MoD and Indian Negotiating Team.”
However, Parrikar in the same file noted at the end: “It appears that PMO and French President office are monitoring the progress of the issue which was an outcome of the summit meeting. Para 5 appears to be an overreaction" Parrikar further tasked Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar to resolve the matter in consultation with Principal Secretary to Prime Minister.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday displayed the file noting in a press conference to indicate that all was not well in the government during the Rafale deal negotiations.
Endorsing the document with ANI, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said outside Parliament: “A newspaper published a file noting written by Defence Secretary, 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.”
Earlier, speaking in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said: “Then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar ji replied to that MoD note that remain calm, nothing to worry, everything is going alright. Now, what do you call the NAC led by Sonia Gandhi's interference in earlier PMO? What was that?” (ANI)