the goan I network
PANAJI
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has embarked on a political pilgrimage to Delhi in a bid to douse the fire and contain political damage to himself on account of the controversy surrounding the audio clip of a purported telephonic conversation with an unidentified journalist.
Rane unsuccessfully tried to secure an audience with BJP national president Amit Shah the whole of Saturday in the national capital but is said to have met some Union ministers and BJP leaders with whom he has personal equations.
On his Facebook wall, the minister posted a photograph with Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Saturday afternoon and captioned it: “Special moments with Mrs Maneka Gandhi today morning discussed about the new Women’s Commission Act for Goa.”
Rane has been at the epicentre of a controversy which snowballed nationally since Wednesday when the Congress released an audio purportedly of him having a phone conversation with a journalist in which he claims among other things that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said in a cabinet meeting that he has files of the Rafale deal with him in his bedroom. Congress president Rahul Gandhi cited the contents of the audio clip to renew and escalate his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for corruption in the Rs 54,000 crore defence deal with French aircraft maker Dassault.
Rane on Wednesday quickly denied the contents of the audio clip. He claimed it was ‘doctored’ and blamed the Congress for targeting him and using him as a “pawn” for its larger political designs.
He also simultaneously wrote to Parrikar and Shah demanding a probe to ascertain the authenticity of the audio clip as well as to identify those behind the ‘doctoring’ of the tape. However no such investigation has formally been ordered either by Parrikar or at the Centre, more than three days since.
The episode none-the-less has given rise to a gulf of a trust deficit between the BJP leadership and Rane, who until recently was said to be among the front-runners for leadership in the event the critically ailing Parrikar quits office.
BJP leadership has thus far refrained from acting against the Sattari strongman as it would lend credence to the audio tape narrative and provide the Congress’ Rafale attack more teeth
Rane could, however, find himself isolated within the government up until the impending LS polls, according to several BJP leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity
MISSION TO MEET AMIT SHAH FAILS
Vishwajit Rane unsuccessfully tried to secure an audience with BJP national president Amit Shah the whole of Saturday in the national capital but is said to have met some Union ministers and BJP leaders with whom he has personal equations
