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Updated: Jan 30, 2019 13:54 IST

A day after Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed that Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar had told him that he had “nothing to do with the new Rafale deal” the state unit of the BJP Goa asked the Congress president “not to politicise a courtesy visit”.

Rahul Gandhi had made the claim in Kochi on Tuesday.

“It was not the right thing for Rahul Gandhi to do,” Mauvin Godinho, Goa’s minister of panchayats told reporters in Panaji.

“When we extend civil courtesies to each other, it should remain at that. We may belong to different political parties [but] one should not get politics in it. Now if big leaders start getting politics into such things also, I think it is not the right thing to do,” he said.

“One should realise, that when you come to enquire about a person’s health, it should be limited to that. He should not try to capitalise that and say something to the contrary, because when meetings like that take place between two persons, so many things can be said about each other,” Godinho said.

On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi paid a surprise visit to Parrikar who has been ailing for a year to inquire about his health.

While Rahul didn’t make it clear where Parrikar had made the comments about Rafale, Goa’s leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar who was present at the meeting, claimed that the issued did not arise in the brief meeting between the Congress chief and Parrikar.

“No, there was nothing like that. It is Rahul’s totally private visit. He only inquired about his health. He told the MLAs said he will make another visit to discuss party related issues. Maybe next month,” Kavlekar said when asked.

A day before the visit Rahul tweeted about the alleged “Rafale tapes” in which Goa’s health minister Vishwajit Rane is allegedly heard saying that Parrikar told his cabinet colleagues that he has files concerning the contentious deal about the French fighter jets in his bedroom.

Earlier, South Goa BJP MP Narendra Sawaikar said that Parrikar “does not need any certificate from Rahul Gandhi.”

“The allegations made against him are totally false and baseless. We don’t need a certificate from Rahul Gandhi because Parrikar’s integrity and devotion and dedication is unquestionable,” Sawaikar had said.

Ahead of Godinho’s comments on Rahul’s claims about Parrikar, Goa assembly’s deputy speaker Michael Lobo who is from the BJP appreciated the Congress president’s gesture of calling on the ailing Chief Minister.