Manohar Parrikar says ‘never discussed Rafale deal with Rahul Gandhi, feel let down’
Manohar Parrikar.
An upset Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, on Wednesday, denied having mentioned the Rafale warplane deal with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, when the latter dropped in for a courtesy meeting with the former. He wrote an open letter to Gandhi and asked him not to use the “visit to an ailing person to feed political opportunities”.
Gandhi, after meeting with Parrikar, had earlier said the Goa chief minister ostensibly told him that he had no knowledge of the new Rafale deal.
Rahul Gandhi soon after meeting Parrikar left for Kerala, and while addressing party workers, Gandhi said, “Former defence minister Manohar Parrikar clearly stated that he had nothing to do with the deal orchestrated by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi to help Ambani …”
Reacting to his statement, Parrikar wrote: “Without any prior information you called on me and enquired on my health condition. ... (But) I feel let down that you used this visit for your petty political gains. In the five minutes you spent with me, neither did you mention anything about Rafale, nor did we discuss anything about/related to it. Nothing whatsoever about Rafale was even mentioned in your meeting with me.”
Soon after the letter was made public, BJP chief Amit Shah, tweeted a copy and wrote: “This shows how insensitive he is by lying in the name of a sick person and the people of India are disgusted by his reckless behaviour.”
Manohar Parrikar’s open letter to Rahul Gandhi.
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