THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Former defence secretary G. Mohan Kumar has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi never interfered in the Rafale deal and his file jottings were related to negotiations on the French guarantee for fighter aircraft rather than pricing.
Mr Kumar said the newspaper report on the expose was like an “inflated balloon”. The Prime Minister had the authority, as the head of the Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs, to intervene in the inter-governmental defence contract.
“A note was brought to me and I put in my free and frank views, which was encouraged by the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar. The issue was with regard to the guarantee by the French government. MoD works differently and we wanted to keep everything within. We didn’t want anybody else talking,” he said.
“It was in the early stages of the negotiation, and, as I said, MoD works differently,” Mr Kumar said.
Everything was overboard. The current controversy is superficial and driven by political interests. There was no hidden agenda in the deal with France. A seven-member committee was engaged in the negotiations with the French and his note was one of caution, aimed at the committee. “What is now presented as an expose are mere insinuations”, said Mr Kumar.
