Parrikar’s son lashes out at Rahul over Rafale verdict

Former defence minister late Manohar Parrikar’s son, Utpal, on Thursday lashed out at ex-Congress president Rahul Gandhi, accusing the latter of using the Rafale controversy for political gain and not sparing his then-ailing father to further his political agenda.

Utpal’s series of tweets followed hours after the Supreme Court dismissed review petitions seeking a probe in the Rs 58,000 crore fighter jet deal.

“#RafaleVerdict is out and I hope this is a good learning experience for @RahulGandhi . I can give the benefit of the doubt that he did all this as part of Ill-planned political game, just the way he used the visit to my ailing father for politics,” Utpal tweeted.

“Because the alternative is to cast a suspicion the least of which is Industrial espionage if you believe news reports about him pal around with UK based defence offset contractor or worst treasonous behaviour of secretly hobnobbing with the ambassador of the adversarial country even during Doklam standoff. So sure in absence of any hard evidence I’ll give the benefit of the doubt and wish he learned thing or two from this saga. #Rafale #RafaleVerdict,” Utpal said in his tweet.

Parrikar served as defence minister from 2014-17 when the fighter jet deal was being negotiated and signed between the Indian and French governments.

The “courtesy visit” of Rahul Gandhi, who had led the Congress charge in the Rafale controversy, to Parrikar in Goa, when the latter was ailing with cancer, had triggered controversy in January this year, with the BJP accusing the Congress leader of using the visit to give a spin to the Rafale controversy.

Parrikar in a letter to Gandhi had also accused the latter of using his ailing health to further the Congress’ political agenda vis a vis the alleged Rafale controversy.

Parrikar died in March this year following a protracted battle with cancer.