Rahul Gandhi meets Goa CM Manohar Parrikar, says no talk on “Rafale” jet dealimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/67740602.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
PANAJI (Goa): Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar at the state Assembly complex here and enquired about his health. Parrikar, 63, who has been suffering from a pancreatic ailment, heads the BJP-led government in the coastal state.
The meeting comes a day after Gandhi alleged that the “Goa audio tapes”, cited by the Congress to attack the Centre on the Rafale issue, were authentic and Parrikar was in possession of “explosive secrets” that give him power over Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress president has been asking for an inquiry into audio tapes that he says reveal that Manohar Parrikar has files on the Rafale jet deal and so has leverage over his leadership.
Rahul Gandhi called it a “personal visit” and tweeted: “This morning I visited Goa CM, Manohar Parrikar, to wish him a speedy recovery.” The Congress in Goa said their chief – contrary to speculation — did not raise the Rafale deal with the Chief Minister, who has been extremely unwell over the past few months with a pancreatic condition.
Gandhi arrived in the Assembly premises around noon, soon after the House was adjourned following Goa Governor Mridula Sinha’s address, which was boycotted by Congress members. After his arrival, the Congress president went to meet the chief minister in his chamber in the assembly complex.
Gandhi later went to the opposition lobby in the Assembly to meet Congress MLAs. He held a meeting with them for 10 minutes before leaving. The Congress chief refused to talk to waiting mediapersons, saying, “I am getting late.” Rahul Gandhi called it a “personal visit” and tweeted: “This morning I visited Goa CM, Manohar Parrikar, to wish him a speedy recovery.” The Congress in Goa said their chief – contrary to speculation — did not raise the Rafale deal with the Chief Minister, who has been extremely unwell over the past few months with a pancreatic condition.
“Thirty days since the Goa audio tapes on Rafale were released. No FIR or enquiry ordered. No action against (Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane) either,” said Mr Gandhi. “It’s obvious that the tapes are authentic and that Goa CM Parrikar is in possession of explosive Rafale secrets that give him power over the PM (Prime Minister),” he tweeted.
The Congress claims to have an audio recording of a Goa minister quoting Mr Parrikar as saying that files related to the Rafale jet deal were “in his bedroom”. Mr Parrikar, who was defence minister before becoming Goa chief minister in 2017, had tweeted that the audio clip was a “desperate attempt to fabricate facts”. The minister supposedly on tape, Vishwajit Rane, also alleged that it was doctored.
The Congress claimed that Mr Parrikar, who was defence minister when the deal for 36 Rafale jets was signed between India and France, had said at a meeting of the Goa cabinet that no one could remove him as “all the Rafale papers are in my flat, in my bedroom”. Vishwajit Rane, the Goa health minister, is on tape relating this conversation, claimed the Congress.
The Supreme Court has said there is no reason to doubt the decision-making process, delivering a huge reprieve to the government amid Congress allegations of corruption in the Rs. 59,000-crore contract. The court rejected a probe and dismissed petitions that had alleged that the government had gone for an overpriced deal to help industrialist Anil Ambani’s company bag an offset contract with jet-maker Dassault. “There is no evidence of commercial favouritism to any private entity,” the court had said.(With Agency Inputs ).
