EXCLUSIVE: Former Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar tears into Rahul Gandhi's lies, says 'no PMO interference in Rafale pricing'

Hours after Republic TV exposed the Congress president Rahul Gandhi's lies and the half-truth showed by a newspaper in the Rafale fighter planes deal, with the full note written by the Ministry of Defence, Republic TV spoke to G Mohan Kumar, Defence Secretary at the time of Rafale negotiations were going who cleared the air on the Congress president's lies.

In an exclusive interview to Republic TV, former Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar said that while there was no intervention by the PMO in the price negotiation of the Rafale deal, it had to be involved since it is a government-to-government deal. 

'It is being blown out of proportion. It is being shown in the wrong context. There was absolutely no PMO interference in price negotiation. Since it is was an inter-governmental negotiation, PMO had to be involved. My dissent had nothing to do with Anil Ambani is being projected. This is total bunkum, it has nothing to do with reality. Do you see Anil Ambani's name anywhere in this deal? You can't take an excerpt and then blow it out of context. Unnecessary controversy is being generated by a few political parties. A garbled version of the note given to the media to distort what happened in the Rafale deal," the former Defence Secretary said slamming Congress for spreading lies.

READ: Not Pricing But Sovereign Guarantee!: Then Defence Secretary Punctures Opposition's Attack Over Rafale Dissent Note

Earlier on Friday, top sources at MOD had told that the note published in the media report is a selective leak which projects the entire story out of context. 

Also speaking to ANI, G Mohan Kumar rebutted the inference of a media report that had referenced a dissent letter by the MoD to the PMO wherein PMO officials were asked to refrain from holding parallel parlays with French government officials as it adversely impacted the Indian negotiating team's negotiating position. The inference, which was jumped on by the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi was that the "parallel negotiations" were over the pricing of the Rafale Multirole fighter. 

This development came into light after the opposition, led by Congress President Rahul Gandhi, on Friday tried to bring the Rafale debate back in the forum by citing a newspaper report which suggested that the PMO had held parallel talks with the French government relating to pricing, something which was objected by the Ministry of Defence.

READ: RAFALE LIE CAUGHT: These Are The Parts That Were Cut From The Letter Rahul Gandhi Used To Make His Rafale "parallel Negotiations" Attack At PM Modi