Congress flogging a dead horse: Nirmala Sitharaman on Rafale report
New Delhi, Feb 8 (IBNS): Countering opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over The Hindu report claiming the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) held separate parleys with France over the Rafale deal, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Congress is flogging a dead horse.
"The Rafale deal was fully discussed in the house," Sitharaman said while she was speaking in the parliament.
The Hindu report on Friday stated the Defence Ministry had protested against PMO's separate parleys with the French government over the deal of buying of 36 fighters jets from France by India.
The report said the Defence Ministry had objected to PMO's parallel talks with the French government.
Reacting to the report, Sitharaman also said the newspaper did selective reporting by not mentioning then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement.
Hurling attack on the Congress, she accused the opposition party of playing a corporate warfare.
Defence Ministry's objection:
The Defence Ministry's objection has been quoted by The Hindu, "We may advise PMO that any Officers who are not part of Indian Negotiating Team may refrain from having parallel parlays [parleys] with the officers of French Government....in case the PMO is not confident about the outcome of negotiations being carried out by the MoD, a revised modality of negotiations to be led by PMO at appropriate level may be adopted in the case.”
Stating PMO's parallel talks had "weakened the negotiating position of MoD and Indian Negotiating Team," a Defence Ministry brought a note to then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's notice.
Rahul Gandhi blasts Modi:
Reacting to the development, Rahul said: "For more than a year, we've been saying that PM is directly involved in Rafale scam. Today it is clear that PM himself had been carrying out a parallel negotiation."
The Congress chief also urged the Modi government to probe into cases not only related to any Congress leader but also the Rafale.
"It is clear that Modi is a thief and he has stolen people's Rs. 30,000 crore and gave it to Anil Ambani," he added.
No mention of PMO in Supreme Court:
In the Supreme Court, however, the government had stated a seven-member team headed by the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff conducted the negotiations but did not mention PMO's intervention.
Giving a verdict in favour of the BJP government, the top court had stated due process in singing the deal was followed.
Francois Hollande's claim:
Congress took the matter to the centre stage after former French President Francois Hollande dropped a bombshell saying the the India government proposed Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence as the India partner for the 36 Rafale jets deal.
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