Rafale row: Manohar Parrikar calls Congress' audio clip of Goa cabinet meeting a 'desperate attempt to fabricate facts'

Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday took to Twitter to respond to the Congress’ demand that he disclose what “dirty secrets” he had about the Rafale fighter jets deal. The former defence minister claimed the Opposition party was trying to “fabricate facts”.

He wrote:

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 Memorial (@manoharparrikar) January 2, 2019

Earlier on Wednesday, the Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had claimed that the party has audio recordings in which BJP minister, Vishwajit P Rane, can be heard saying that Parrikar, who was the defence minister when India and France signed the Rafale deal, possesses all files related to the agreement on the fighter jet.

#WATCH Randeep Surjewala, Congress releases audio clip of Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Pratapsingh Rane claiming Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has "All the files related to #RafaleDeal in his bedroom" pic.twitter.com/M8VZbfPnxJ

— ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2019

Meanwhile, Vishwajit P Rane, the Goa health minister who is purportedly heard saying in the audio clip said Parrikar has files related to the Rafale deal, has written to the chief minister , “This is doctored audio and I have never had any discussion on this subject with anyone. There should be a thorough inquiry in this matter,” he wrote in his letter to Parrikar on Wednesday.

Surjewala told the media that Parrikar had lost his cool at a recent cabinet meeting in Goa and said he could not be removed from his post as chief minister as he had many secrets on the Rafale deal with him.

“There are reports, which are now circulating in the public domain, that two days ago, when there was a cabinet meeting in Goa, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is the former defence minister, ad lost his cool over his cabinet colleagues and said he cannot be removed as he has a copy of the Rafale file.

“The nation would like to know whether that is a fact? The people of India would like to know whether the reason for the non-removal of Parrikar, despite his ill health and incapacity to perform as the chief minister of Goa, is some dirty secrets hidden in the Rafale file that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to show neither to the Supreme Court, nor to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which the Opposition has been demanding,” Surjewala said at a press conference in Delhi.

The Congress leader added that if these assertions Parrikar had made were correct, then it was an extremely serious matter coming from an incumbent chief minister.

“We would like Parrikar to come out and state in the public domain if this is what had transpired in the cabinet meeting. What is the Rafale file that he has? What are the dirty secrets hidden therein, and what is the reason that those papers cannot be shown either to Parliament, or to the Supreme Court, or to the people of India? These are important questions that need to be answered.

“We call upon Parrikar and his sense of propriety to come out in the open and answer these questions, so that once and for all, this web of deceit and lies over the entire Rafale deal gets clear,” Surjewala said.

With inputs from PTI