Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday come out to douse the Rafale fire after the Opposition launched a scathing attack based on a The Hindu report claiming parallel negotiations in the deal by PMO with the French side. Sitharaman asked the Congress to justify the National Advisory Council led by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Sitharaman alleged that it was Sonia Gandhi who through NAC interfered in every ministry and even the PMO.

On The Hindu's report Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that if the newspaper wanted to bring out the truth, they would have approached the defence ministry and done a thorough check.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday come out to douse the Rafale fire after the Opposition launched a scathing attack based on a The Hindu report claiming parallel negotiations in the deal by PMO with the French side. However, Sitharaman termed the report as “selective journalism” contending that the media house conveniently chose not to quote then defence minister Manohar Parrikar’s remarks on defence secretary’s noting of “parallel negotiations”.

Soon after the report was published, Congress said that their allegation of PM being involved in the “Rafale scam” was proved in the report. On this Sitharaman asked the Congress to justify the National Advisory Council led by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Sitharaman alleged that it was Sonia Gandhi who through NAC interfered in every ministry and even the PMO.

On The Hindu’s report Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that if the newspaper wanted to bring out the truth, they would have approached the defence ministry and done a thorough check. They would also have approached the then Raksha Mantri (Parrikar) for his views on it. The said paper has gone ahead and published a report without any facts to back it.

After the report was published, then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s response to the note objecting to “parallel parleys” by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) with the French authorities was tweeted by News Agency ANI. In reply to the noting, Parrikar said “It appears the PMO and the French President’s office are monitoring the progress of the issue which was an outcome of the summit meeting. Para 5 appears to be an ‘overreaction’.”