Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rejected the newspaper report, which claimed that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) ran a parallel negotiation on the Rafale fighter jet deal with France. Speaking in Lok Sabha, Sitharaman called the report ‘motivated’ and accused the Congress of “flogging a dead horse.” She added that the “then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had replied to that MoD note, saying ‘remain calm, nothing to worry, everything is going alright.” She also accused the opposition of playing into hands of multinationals and vested interests.