Defence ministry note on Rafale deal rocks govt; Rahul slams PM

The Modi government was on Friday rocked by a 2015 Defence Ministry note cited in a media report expressing strong objections to the "parallel" negotiations by the PMO in the controversial Rafale jet deal and came under fresh attack from Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

Stepping up his offensive on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi demanded answers to questions raised in the media report, saying it is now crystal clear that the "watchman" is the "thief", an apparent reference to Modi's alleged cronyism in the Rafale deal.

Gandhi's offensive drew a counter-attack from Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who dismissed the report in 'The Hindu' newspaper on the internal note in the Ministry of Defence(MoD) dated November 24, 2015 as "flogging a dead horse" and alleged that the opposition was playing into the hands of multinational companies and vested interests.

As the MoD note led to a ruckus in the Lok Sabha and sparked a fresh confrontation between opposition parties led by the Congress and the Centre, Sitharaman also maintained that "periodical enquiries" by the Prime Minister's Office(PMO) cannot be construed as interference."
"If Supreme Court had this paperwork, do you think that the Supreme Court would have given the judgement that they give? This was withheld from the Supreme Court. Of course. So that entire judgement is also in question."
There were several unsettled issues that were being sorted out and sovereign guarantee was one of it, he said, adding," All the price negotiations were conducted by the (negotiating) committee."