Hours after attacking Manohar Parrikar on Twitter over Rafale deal, Rahul Gandhi visits Goa CM at his office

Fewer than 24 hours after launching a fresh attack on Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar over his role in the Rafale deal, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi paid a visit to Parrikar on Tuesday, reports say.

Rahul visited Parrikar, who has long since been ailing, at the chief minister’s office at the Goa Assembly, at around noon, reported ANI. Parrikar has been suffering from a pancreatic ailment and is undergoing treatment at his residence since he returned to the state in October last year following hospitalisation at New Delhi’s All-India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Goa: Congress President Rahul Gandhi arrives at the Chief Minister's office in Panaji pic.twitter.com/DBsDqukOhO

— ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2019

The meeting lasted 15 minutes and is believed to be a courtesy call, reported News18.

Congress MLA Chandrakant Kavlekar told ANI , “He (Rahul Gandhi) visited the chief minister to check on his health. I also requested him to meet our Congress MLAs. He obliged and met all of them.”

Parrikar has attended only a few official functions since returning to the state and has hardly been seen in public.

Rahul is on a private visit to Goa with mother Sonia Gandhi, reported NDTV.

On Monday, Rahul had demanded action be taken against Parrikar as he is allegedly in possession of files related to the Rafale deal. On Twitter, Rahul wrote, “Thirty days since the Goa Audio Tapes on RAFALE were released. No FIR or enquiry ordered. No action against the Minister either! It’s obvious that the tapes are authentic & that Goa CM, Parrikar, is in possession of explosive RAFALE secrets, that give him power over the PM.”

The Congress, earlier in January, had released an audio clip claiming that Parrikar possessed all files related to the deal. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had claimed that Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane can be heard speaking in it to another person about the deal.

In the audio, Rane, as claimed by Congress, divulged that Parrikar, who was the defence minister when the Rafale deal was signed in 2016 between India and France, had “all files related to the deal in his bedroom”.

With inputs from agencies