Rahul Gandhi responds to Manohar Parrikar’s open letter, says ‘I understand you are under immense pressure’ 

Rahul Gandhi. 

Following Goa chief minister Manohar Parikkar’s open letter castigating Congress president Rahul Gandhi for allegedly trying to extract political mileage from their recent five-minute meeting, the Congress chief replied to the Goa chief minister in the same tone. After paying a courtesy visit to, Parrikar, who is battling cancer, Gandhi in a meeting with party workers said the Goa chief minister, who was the defence minister in 2015, had “nothing to do with the new Rafale deal”, which the prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced during his visit to France then.

Gandhi posted an open letter on Facebook and claimed that he divulged nothing from their latest discussions and what he said was already in public domain. He also emphasized that Parrikar’s sharp letter criticizing him was written “under immense pressure”. Gandhi also claimed that Parrikar’s letter was leaked to media before it reached him.

In his letter, Gandhi alleged that in April 2015, while the-then defence minister was “inaugurating a fish market in Goa”, Modi announced the Rafale deal in France. The Congress president also wrote: “It is also a fact that you clearly stated to the press that you had no idea about the new deal engineered by the PM. This has been widely reported in all sections of the media [sic].”

Gandhi further wrote: “I understand the immense pressure you are under after our meeting yesterday. Pressure that has forced you to take the highly unusual step of demonstrating your loyalty to the PM and his cronies by attacking me in this uncharacteristic manner.”

Raising the audio tape in which a Goa minister is purportedly heard discussing with an unknown person that Parrikar told him about holding some Rafale files, Gandhi wrote: “Again, it is a fact that there is an audio recording of your own Cabinet colleague in Goa, claiming you told ministers in a cabinet meeting that you have the RAFALE papers in your ‘bed room’, implying that you have power over PM Modi and his cronies [sic].”

Towards the end, Gandhi wrote that had Parrikar’s letter not been leaked, he would have refrained from this exchange. He wrote: “Normally, I would have refrained from this exchange. Unfortunately, your leaked letter has forced me to clarify my position on this unfortunate and unnecessary controversy.”

Rahul Gandhi’s open letter addressed Manohar Parrikar: 

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