Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar refuted Congress’ accusation that files related to Rafale deal were in his bedroom.
In a tweet posted from his official Twitter handle, Parrikar, who was the Defence Minister at the time of the deal, rejected outright the contents of an audio clip released by the Congress on Wednesday.
“The audio clip released by the congress party is a desperate attempt to fabricate facts after their lies were exposed by the recent Supreme Court verdict on Rafale,” he said.
“No such discussion ever came up during Cabinet or any other meeting,” added Parrikar, referring to the conversation allegedly between a Goa minister and an unidentified person in which the minister claimed that the Goa CM had himself said during a Cabinet meeting that the files are in his bedroom.
The audio clip released by the congress party is a desperate attempt to fabricate facts after their lies were exposed by the recent Supreme Court verdict on Rafale. No such discussion ever came up during Cabinet or any other meeting.
— Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) January 2, 2019
In a press conference held earlier today, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said that Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Pratapsingh Rane in a conversation with an unidentified individual had said that Parrikar keeps the files related to the purchase of 36 Rafale jets in his bedroom.
“Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has the all the files relating to Rafale jet deal. The fashion in which every procedure was bypassed…it is all recorded in the files. Those files are with Mr Parrikar. Why are those files being hidden?” said Surjewala on Wednesday.
He also produced an audio recording, which he claimed was between Rane and the unidentified individual, in which two voices can be heard discussing a cabinet meeting and the Rafale deal.
“Modi ji should tell what secrets lie in Parrikar’s bedroom. What corruption or wrongdoing is being shielded by the ‘chowkidar’ and the threat of which hangs on the Goa government?” Surjewala demanded to know.
According to the Congress, Rane told the unidentified voice on the other side that Parrikar at a meeting of the Goa cabinet said that no one could remove him as “all the Rafale papers are in my flat, in my bedroom”.
Read More: Congress claims Rafale files are in Manohar Parrikar’s bedroom
The voice, which the Congress claimed is of Rane, is heard telling the other person, “You can cross-check with somebody you are close to in the cabinet. This is something he said, 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.”