A purported audio clip of a Goa Minister speaking about Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s alleged claim of papers and files on the Rafale fighter jets contract “lying in his bedroom” led to a political slugfest between Congress and BJP after Parliament resumed for the first day of the New Year on Wednesday.
While Congress led by party chief Rahul Gandhi claimed that the tape was genuine, the BJP alleged the tape was doctored, false and fabricated. Sparks flew between Congress and the Centre with Rahul making an attempt in the Lok Sabha to play the “unverified” audio tape purportedly of Minister Vishwajit Rane telling an unidentified person regarding the alleged claim by Parrikar at a Cabinet meeting. Rahul alleged that Parrikar is “blackmailing” Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The Goa Minister is saying clearly that Parrikarji said in a Cabinet meeting that he has a complete file on Rafale deal with all details and therefore he can’t be disturbed. There may be other such audio tapes,” Rahul said at a Press conference.
“Now Parrikar says all details are in his bedroom. Truth can’t be kept hidden. The more you try to hide the truth, new facts will come out,” Rahul said.
“What Parrikar is doing is threatening the PM and blackmailing him in a way. We have been raising this for a long time. Question is what information is there in Parrikar’s bedroom and what files are there and what could be the impact on Narendra Modi,” Rahul further alleged.
Demanding answers from the Prime Minister on Parrikar’s purported claim, Rahul asked if this was the reason why a JPC probe was not being ordered. He said the entire country wants Modi to answer these questions. He also dared Modi to have a one-on-one debate of just 20 minutes on the Rafale matter.
Earlier, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala came out with the conversation purportedly between Rane and another person. Rane purportedly can be heard saying that during a Goa Cabinet meeting last week Parrikar stated he had an entire file and all documents relating to the Rafale deal lying in his bedroom, Surjewala claimed, playing the conversation for the media outside Parliament.
Surjewala quoted Rane as saying, “The Chief Minister made a very interesting statement, that I have all the information of Rafale in my bedroom....That means he is holding them to ransom. He said it is in my bedroom here only in my flat, each and every document on Rafale.”
There was no confirmation on whether it was the voice of Rane in the audio. The identity of the other person was also not ascertained.
In Panjim, Rane said he has asked Parrikar for a police inquiry into the matter to bring to book the accused behind the audio purportedly featuring him. “Today’s voice note which is being circulated and talked about is absolutely absurd and illogical,” he said.
In a letter to Amit Shah, Rane said he never had any conversation with anyone on the Rafale issue and that the purported audio clip is a doctored one. Rane is a former Congress leader who joined the BJP after 2017 Assembly polls and was made a Minister.
On his part, Parrikar termed the audio clip cited by the Congress on the Rafale deal as a desperate attempt to fabricate facts after the Supreme Court exposed the “lies” of the Opposition party. “No such discussion as cited in the audio clip ever came up during the Cabinet or any other meeting,” said Parrikar, who was the Defence Minister when India and France signed a deal for the purchase of fighter aircraft from France.
Opposition Congress in Goa demanded that the CBI “raid” the private residence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to find about a file on the Rafale deal. It also demanded that Parrikar and his Cabinet colleagues should undergo the lie detector test.
As tempers ran high in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the tape is “false and fabricated”, asking the Congress president if he can authenticate it. While Jaitley asserted that Rahul Gandhi may have to face privilege motion and even expulsion in case the tape turns out to be fabricated, the Congress chief in a Press conference claimed that the said audio were authenticate and that there might be many such “tapes”.
The Congress earlier in the day demanded answers from Modi on Parrikar’s purported claim and asked if this was the reason why a JPC probe was not being ordered.
