Pawar's remark on father new low in politics: Parrikar's son
April 15, 2019 23:15
Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal on Monday described as 'insensitive' and a 'new low in Indian politics' Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's remark that the late Bharatiya Janata Party leader quit his post at the Centre and returned to Goa because he did not agree with the Rafale deal.
In a strongly-worded letter addressed to Pawar, Utpal Parrikar termed Pawar's remark as another attempt to invoke his father's name to push 'blatant falsehood for political gains'.
He said the Parrikar family was saddened to read the remarks of Pawar, himself a former defence minister.
'This is yet another unfortunate and insensitive attempt to invoke my father's name to push blatant falsehood for political gains,' Utpal Parrikar said.
Addressing reporters in Kolhapur on Saturday, Pawar had said, "The Rafale deal was not acceptable to Parrikar. He therefore quit as Defence minister and returned to Goa."
Parrikar, who took over as defence minister in November 2014, was sworn in as Goa chief minister on March 14, 2017. He died on March 17 this year after a long battle with a pancreatic cancer.
Parrikar was the defence minister when the Rafale fighter jet deal was signed with France.
In an apparent reference to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Utpal said even when his father was alive and courageously fighting his illness, certain political leaders dragged his name in controversy for petty politics.
'That time, my father had given a fitting reply to such insinuations and innuendos. Today he is not amongst us, which is why perhaps you are taking the liberty to use his name and speak lies. This is a new low in the Indian political discourse,' Utpal wrote in the letter.
A controversy had erupted after Gandhi met ailing Parrikar in Panaji in January this year.
After the meeting, the Congress chief said in Delhi that Parrikar had said he had nothing to do with the new Rafale deal.
Parrikar had rebutted Gandhi's claim about the purported conversation between them.
Utpal further stated that being a senior and respected politician, the people of India did not expect such a statement from Pawar.
'But, now that you have made this statement, let me once again state the basic facts. My father was an honest, upright individual who worked in the best interest of the country, be it in Delhi or in Goa,' Utpal said. -- PTI
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