PANJIM: Senior Congress leader and former union minister for Information and Broadcasting, S Jaipal Reddy on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar of blackmailing each other through Rafale deal to retain their respective chairs.
Addressing media persons in Panjim, Reddy questioned Parrikar’s silence on the entire Rafale controversy as the deal was signed when he was the defence minister of the country.
“Democracy demands transparency. There is no transparency between Modi and Parrikar with regards to Rafale deal. Since public money of Rs 60,000 crore is given away, we demand transparency. Why is Parrikar keeping silent on this issue? If he is well enough to be Chief Minister of Goa, he should be well enough to speak on this subject. It cannot be ignored that Parrikar was the Defence Minister at that time,” Reddy said.
Responding to a question on what could be the reason for Parrikar’s silence on the entire matter, the Congress leader said, “Who has bigger axe to grind than Parrikar. In a way they are blackmailing each other for the chair. I am saying on record, they are blackmailing each other.”
Pointing out how the then defence minister was sidelined while signing the deal, Reddy said that the agreement between the Prime Minister of India and President of France took place on April 14, 2014, when Parrikar was healthy “but he was not taken by the PM to Paris”.
Reddy questioned, “How could a gigantic deal involving a foreign exchange outgo of Rs 60,000 crore be agreed to without a defence minister?”
“Parrikar was not there. He was not taken into confidence. Modi signed the deal. Next day, when he (Parrikar) came to know, he said one thing. Now I have come to know about the agreement, I am backing it now,” the leader claimed.
“I was central minister three times. When I used to do something, my PM used to back me but here is a unique case that PM does something and he needs moral support of his defence minister,” Reddy said.
“Since then Parrikar and Modi have been handling this affair in a collusive manner. We don’t know how much each person has compromised,” Congress leader said.
Reddy was speaking in presence of AICC Secretary and Goa desk in-charge Dr Chellakumar, Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar, Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, senior MLA Pratapsingh Rane and others.
Earlier, Reddy clarified that Congress did not go to Supreme Court as since the very beginning their demand has been investigation through Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), who has right even to call Prime Minister for questioning.
He also said that the party is in favour for discussion on the Rafale deal in the Parliament, but not without facts.
“We are ready for discussion. We need certain facts to be collected, which can be done only by JPC. What JPC does is to collect facts. We don’t know the facts. How do you reach to conclusion without sure knowledge of facts,” he reacted responding to a question.
