New Delhi: The Defence Ministry note that as per the publication that released it 'proved that the Prime Minister's Office had interfered in the negotiations with France' was apparently a selective and cropped version of the real note that exists. In a leading newspaper, only mentioned the bit that had the letter sent by the then Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar, dated 1 December 2015, to the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, where he expressed concerns of the PMO's interference with negotiations in the Rafale deal.

However, the report did not have the entire copy of the noting that contained Parrikar's response. “It appears that PMO and French President office are monitoring the progress of the issue which was an outcome of the summit meeting. Para 5 appears to be an overreaction. Defence Secretary (G Mohan Kumar) may resolve the matter in consultation with Principal Secretary to PM,” Parrikar said in his response to Kumar on 11 January 2016.

While documents available to the newspaper stated that the Defence Ministry protested that the position taken by the PMO was “contradictory to the stand taken by MoD and the negotiating team”. Mohan Kumar made this official notation in his own writing: “RM (Raksha Mantri) may pl. see. It is desirable that such discussions be avoided by the PMO as it undermines our negotiating position seriously”. 

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Mohan Kumar, however, issued a clarification to ANI today that the dissent was not over the pricing issue. on Friday, Mohan Kumar said that“It (MoD dissent note on Rafale negotiations) had nothing to do with price. It was about sovereign guarantees and general terms and conditions... Whatever has been brought out has nothing to do with pricing,".

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