Govt: Parrikar had dismissed fears of PMO interference in Rafale deal

ANI

NEW DELHI

The 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 defence minister Manohar Parrikar to the note by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over negotiations in the Rafale deal.

“The then Defence Minister did not find merits in the noting from the bureaucrat that discussions by PMO on Rafale had weakened negotiating positions. Mr Parrikar had himself noted that such apprehension by the Deputy Secretary (Air) S K Sharma was ‘over reaction,’” a government source said after the issue figured prominently in the Parliament.

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 Parrikar, who had dismissed concerns raised by the officials of his ministry in the Rafale aircraft negotiations. Parrikar 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’s 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 then 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?”

Meanwhile, former defence secretary G Mohan Kumar said on Friday that the Defence Ministry had given a dissent note to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) over sovereign guarantee aspect of the negotiations in the Rafale fighter deal but it had nothing to do with pricing issue.

“It was about sovereign guarantees and general terms and conditions,” Kumar said when asked if he remembered the context of the note. “The context is there in the newspaper. Whatever has been brought out (in the newspaper), it has nothing to do with pricing. Negotiations are not just for pricing but other things also. It was about sovereign guarantees and general terms and conditions,” he elaborated.

Former Air Marshal S B P Sinha, who headed the negotiations from the Indian side in the Rafale aircraft deal, on Friday, meanwhile, deprecated attempts being made to malign the “excellent procurement” of the fighter planes that the government has initiated.

“There are attempts being made to malign the excellent procurement that the government of India has initiated to procure. It was very surprising for me to know that in the article printed today a note within the MoD has been used to malign this procurement by concealing facts,” he said.

He said that the note does not bear the remarks of the defence minister and hence, nobody knows what the defence minister had to say on this. “It was created by S K Sharma, who was not a part of the Indian negotiation team,” he said.

The negotiation team chief said that the PMO never intervened in the negotiations, adding the letter itself is a clear proof of no intervention. “This letter never reached the negotiation team meetings or to me. It is not even mentioned in the minutes of the meeting which we recorded after each sitting got over,” he said.

“There is no sovereign guarantee or bank guarantee then why is it being selectively targeted in this case. The government of France has already given a written assurance called the letter of comfort saying that they will sort out all problems that are there in this contract and that is what is expected out of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP),” he said.

Sinha noted, “I can assure the nation that this is one of the finest procurements and one of the hardest negotiated deals wherein we have brought down the prices by 9 per cent on the basic aircraft and further a very high amount on the overall deal.”