If the All India Congress Committee (AICC) directs, the Goa State unit of the party will file a police complaint in connection with the audio tape in which Health Minister Vishwajit Rane is heard in a phone conversation claiming Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had stashed files related to the Rafale deal in his bedroom, Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar said on Monday.
Mr. Rane, on the other hand, had called the audio tape doctored and a work of the frustrated Congress, and claimed that he had asked the CM and BJP national president Amit Shah to get it probed. Mr. Parrikar had denied any such statement having been made at the said Cabinet meeting in December 2018.
On Monday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who was in Goa on a private visit with his mother Sonia Gandhi, tweeted, “30 days since the Goa audio tapes on RAFALE were released. No FIR or inquiry ordered. No action against the Minister either! It’s obvious that the tapes are authentic & that Goa CM, Parrikar, is in possession of explosive RAFALE secrets, that give him power over the PM.”
Mr. Chodankar said, “It has been 30 days and there is still no probe. If the police are not inquiring, then the tape is genuine. If we get a directive from the AICC to file a police complaint, we will go ahead.”
He said the responsibility to probe the contents of the tape now lies with the BJP.
