PARRIKAR'S JAB
>> I thought your visit would give me your good wishes in that cause of serving our people
>> Nothing whatsoever about Rafale was even mentioned in your meeting with me
>> Kindly do no use your visit to an ailing person to feed political opportunism
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RAHUL'S RETORT
>> I have not shared any details of my conversation with you when we met in Goa yesterday
>> Parrikarji, I empathise with your situation. I understand the immense pressure you are under
>> Pressure that has forced you to demonstrate your loyalty to the PM and his cronies
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PANAJI: A day after their purported 'courtesy meeting' on Tuesday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and
ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar sparred through a public exchange of letters.
Parrikar accused Gandhi of using the meeting for "petty political gains" in his letter while the Congress president replied writing that he "empathised" with Parrikar's situation of being under "immense pressure" to defend Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Parrikar, who was Defence Minister when the Rafale deal was announced by Modi in Paris, wrote to Gandhi saying he felt "let down" by his remarks attributed to him over the Rafale deal when no such conversation happened during their five-minute meeting.
Gandhi was quoted in the media on Tuesday at two events in Kochi and Delhi after his meeting with Parrikar, that the former defence minister had said that the Prime Minister "did not discuss" with the Defence Minister when Modi changed the deal and announced it in Paris.
"I have not shared any details of my conversation with you when we met in Goa yesterday. In my two speeches since we met, I have referred to what is already in the public domain," Gandhi said in the reply.
Gandhi also said he was "disturbed to hear" about a letter "which you have supposedly written but instead leaked to the press before I have had a chance to read it" in his reply to Parrikar.
"Parrikarji, I empathise with your situation. 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," Gandhi's reply to Parrikar reads.
He reiterated that his visit was strictly personal and driven purely by "my empathy for your situation" while recalling that he had called on Parrikar while undergoing treatment in the United States to enquire about his health.
"Parrikar Ji, regardless of my visit, I am a democratic representative, elected to serve the Indian people, and as such I reserve the absolute right to attack the corrupt PM on his blatant dishonesty in the Rafale deal," Gandhi's reply further reads.
He said it is a fact that in April 2015, while Parrikar was inaugurating a fish market in Goa, Modi announced the altered Rafale deal in France.
"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," it reads.
"It is a fact that there is an audio recording of your own cabinet colleague, 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," he added in reference to the controversial audio tape of a phone conversation between Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and a local journalist.
Earlier, Parrikar in his letter to Gandhi had said: "It is reported in the media today that you have said quoting me that I was nowhere in the process of procuring Rafale nor did I have any information then about it. I feel let down that you have used this visit for your petty political gains."
"In the five minutes you spent with me, neither did you mention anything about Rafale, nor did we discuss anything about/related to it. Nothing whatsoever about Rafale was even mentioned in your meeting with me. The inter-government agreement and the procurement of Rafale are as per defence procurement procedure," Parrikar said to Gandhi in the letter.
"Paying a courtesy visit and then stooping so low as to make a false statement for petty political gain has raised, in my mind, questions about the sincerity and purpose of your visit itself," Parrikar said. "With deep disappointment, I write to you hoping you would put out the truth. Kindly do not use your visit to an ailing person to feed political opportunism," Parrikar said.
