I met Parrikar to wish him speedy recovery: Rahul Gandhi
Guwahati: Congress President Rahul Gandhi meets Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and asks for an inquiry into audio tapes where it says that Parrikar has files on the Rafale jet deal and so has leverage over his leadership.
The Congress President has called it a personal visit and tweeted as 'I visited Goa CM this morning 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.
The Congress President and his mother Sonia Gandhi are on a vacation in Goa and on Monday Rahul Gandhi had moved to Chattisgarh for a rally before returning to Goa. After he met Karrikar he moved to Kochi. The BJP in Goa, however, said that the Congress should learn a lesson from it's chief. "It is very nice of him to do so. It should teach a lesson to the local unit of the Congress which has been troubling Parrikar. He has come just to ask about his health," said Vijay Sardesai.
The Congress President said that thirty days since the Goa audio tapes on Rafale were released no FIR or enquiry has been ordered neither any action has been taken against Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane. He also tweeted, "It's obvious that the tapes are authentic and that Goa Chief Minister is in possession of explosives Rafale secrets that give him power over the Prime Minister."
Parrikar on the other hand, tweeted that the audio clip was a desperate attempt to fabricate facts while Vishwajit Rane also alleged that it was doctored.
The Congress also claimed that 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 could remove him as all the Rafale papers are in his flat, in his bedroom.
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.