Rahul Gandhi Used Father's Ill-Health For Political Gain, Says Manohar Parrikar's Son

Utpal Parrikar, son of late BJP leader Manohar Parrikar, said on Thursday that the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss review petitions in the Rafale case was a “learning experience” for Rahul Gandhi. Utpal hit out at the Congress leader on Twitter after the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“#RafaelVerdict is out and I hope this is a good learning experience for @RahulGandhi,” he said.

“I can give benefit of doubt that he did all this as part of ill-planed political game, just the way he used visit to my ailing father for politics,” Utpal added.

He was referring to Gandhi’s visit to ailing Manohar Parrikar, then chief minister of Goa, at latter’s residence on January 29.

Gandhi had claimed that Parrikar told him that he (as defence minister) was kept in the dark by prime minister Narendra Modi about changes made in the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

Parrikar had denied Gandhi’s claim, saying the Congress leader should not misuse a five-minute courtesy visit for political mileage. Parrikar died on March 17 this year.

The Supreme Court on Thursday rebuked Rahul Gandhi for

wrongly attributing to the apex court his “chowkidar chor hai” remark against Modi in connection with the Rafale deal,  but closed the contempt proceedings against Gandhi with a “word of caution” that he must be more careful in future.