Congress president Rahul Gandhi Friday intensified his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal following a media report that the Defence Ministry had protested the “parallel negotiations” being carried out by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) with the French side. Advertising“With the media report today it is black and white that the PM himself was carrying out parallel negotiations with the French. The report further cites a Defence Ministry note dated November 24, 2015, stating that such parallel discussions by the PMO had “weakened the negotiating position of MoD and Indian Negotiating Team”. On September 27, 2016, The Indian Express had also reported about a Defence Ministry official who raised questions about the deal’s benchmark price and put his objections on record. Why doesn’t he state the reason for parallel negotiations?

Source: Indian Express February 08, 2019 05:05 UTC