Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday demanded answers to questions raised by a media report that the Prime Minster's Office (PMO) conducted parallel negotiations on the Rafale deal, saying it is now crystal clear that the "watchman" is the "thief" as he ramped up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Hindu citing an internal note written by the defence ministry officials in 2015, reported that the ministry protested against "parallel negotiations" between the PMO and the French government over the purchase of the fighter jets.

The then defence secretary Mohan Kumar made a hand-written observation saying “it is desirable that such discussions be avoided by the PMO as it undermines our negotiating position seriously".

CNBC-TV18 caught up with N Ram of The Hindu; Nirdosh Tyagi; former deputy chief of air staff; Justice VK Sharma, former judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court and Syed Zafar Islam of the BJP, to discuss the issue.