PANJIM: Ascertaining the audio tape related to the Rafale deal conversation allegedly between Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and an unidentified whistleblower is true and not tampered; Congress in Goa on Thursday said their high command will get the tape investigated by the topmost investigating agency.
The opposition also asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi not ask Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who has been ailing with serious ailment and unable to perform his duties past eleven months, to step down.
Congress party on Wednesday had released the Audio Tape in which Rane is purportedly heard telling an unidentified person that CM Manohar Parrikar has Rafale files in his bedroom, due to which, he has managed to continue in the chair. Rane, had however, claimed that the tape is doctored.
Addressing media persons, Congress spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu said the tape is true and not tempered. “The tape should be investigated by the topmost agencies which are neutral. There are many agencies which can do it. I am sure my party has asked those agencies to verify whether they are duplicate,” he said adding that the media should also probe into it.
“The media is the best investigating agency. We can’t trust CBI, NIA or ED nor we can trust the Prime Minister. We have full faith in media of this nation. Many of them are still independent and want to go by the rule” Deshprabhu said.
Deshprabhu said the whistleblower who exposed the tape is a journalist. He said the journalist has no leaning towards any political party but had exposed the tapes as his duty.
Later speaking, Congress President Girish Chodankar pointed out that the senior BJP leaders like Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj had to lose their portfolios due to sickness but Parrikar who holds almost all the portfolios was not asked to step down.
The Congress leader said the BJP has retained Parrikar in the chair for almost eleven months despite him being critically sick. “That time, we had doubt that Parrikar had secret documents due to which he has managed to retain the chair. After the cabinet meeting (in which the issue was reportedly discussed), our doubts were confirmed,” he added.
Chodankar, however, ruled out that he has knowledge about identity of the journalist. “There are so many names, but I don’t know who he is,” he said referring to the journalist, who is named as Mr X in the conversation made public by Congress.
Chodankar said that the voice in the tape was “very much that of Vishwajit Rane”.
“It is very clear that the voice belongs to Vishwajit. Just to divert the attention they are claiming that it is manufactured in the studio of a Congressman,” he said when asked about the message that is being circulated that the audio was dubbed in the studio owned by Congress spokesman Siddhanath Buyao.
“There is a confirmation that the discussion about Rafale has happened in Goa cabinet. I don’t know why rafale issue has to be discussed in the State Cabinet,” Chodankar said.
