Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi dropped a bombshell yesterday when he accused that former Union Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar was blackmailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he had important Rafale-deal related documents in his possession.

Lok Sabha witnessed a heated debate on Rafale jet deal in which Members aired their views. Speech of Rahul Gandhi, in a belligerent avatar in the aftermath of Congress’ victory in last month’s Assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, was certainly the highlight as he listed question after question for the ruling BJP to respond. Unfortunately, none of his questions were answered back.

“When Jaitley spoke in the House, he said that Congress was stating that the Rafale deal was worth Rs.1600 crores whereas in reality it was worth Rs.58,000 crores. Yes, he is right; divide Rs.58000 crores by 36 and you get Rs.1600 crores. I have an audio clipping in my possession showing Goan Minister Viswajith Rane speaking to some person in which Rane goes on record that he was told by Parikkar that he had all Rafale-related important documents in safe custody in his bedroom.

“I now say that it is very clear that Parikkar is obviously blackmailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi on some pretest as he has important Rafale-related documents in his custody. What he is bargaining for is not known. This has become bigger than the scam-ridden Rafale-deal itself,” he said. Rahul was denied permission when he sought the Speaker’s nod to play out the audio tape he had in his possession.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley responded stating that Rahul had been giving wrong news as he had been comparing two different deals.