Congress President Rahul Gandhi has launched a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal following a news report claiming that the defence ministry protested “parallel parleys” by the PMO with the French authorities. “It is absolutely black and white that the prime minister himself was carrying a parallel negotiation with the French,” Gandhi said at a press conference in New Delhi. A report published by The Hindu has claimed that “the French side took advantage of parallel parleys by the PMO that weakened Indian team’s position” in negotiating the deal with France.