PANAJI
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar on Tuesday warned that the ghost of Rafale will keep haunting the legacy bearers of late Parrikar till the truth comes out.
He insisted that with the sensational revelations made by the French news portal “Mediapart” which has brought to the fore the existence of middleman, payment of commission and red flags shown by the French anti-corruption agency, Agence Francaise Anticorruption (AFA), in the Rafale deal, it is now pertinent to investigate the role of former Defence Minister late Parrikar, especially in context to the audiotape leak of Goa's current Health Minister.
“The revelations made by the Health Minister in the leaked audiotape that the secret files of the controversial Rafale deal were in the cupboards of the then Defence Minister Parrikar gathers significance and importance once again after the fresh revelations by the French agency,” stated Chodankar.
He alleged that Parrikar always appeared uncomfortable while responding to questions about the Rafale deal and questioned why the pro-active BJP government at the Centre and the state’s investigative agencies remained silent and completely ignored the revelations made by the minister.
“There is a possibility that the huge amount from 1.1 million euros paid to the so-called middleman had reached the plateau of Dona Paula and was in the treasury of late Parrikar. The French Investigative Agency has now revealed that after signing of the deal in 2016, Dassault, the manufacturer of Rafale fighter jets paid 1.1 million euro to a middleman,” Chodankar said.
Congress urged the BJP government at the Centre to accept its demand for an investigation into the matter through Joint Parliamentary Committee.
