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Updated: Jan 30, 2019 21:53 IST

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has responded to Manohar Parrikar’s letter that accused him of using his visit on the chief minister for “petty political gains”. Gandhi said he was disturbed to hear about Parrikar’s letter which was “leaked to the press before I have had a chance to read it”.

“I have not shared any details of my conversation with you when we met in Goa yesterday. In my two speeches since we met, I have referred to what is already in the public domain,” Rahul Gandhi said in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening.

Gandhi met Parrikar at the CM’s office in Panaji on Tuesday. The meeting between Gandhi, on a private visit to Goa, and Parrikar, lasted about 10 minutes. It came a day after Gandhi referred to a purported audio tape in which a Goa minister claimed that Parrikar possessed files relating to the Rafale deal.

In his response, Gandhi said, “Parrikar ji, I empathise with your situation. I understand the immense pressure you are under after our meeting yesterday. Pressure that has forced you to take the highly unusual step of demonstrating your loyalty to the PM.”

Parrikar had said that media reports about his meeting with the Congress chief caused him “distress”. The Goa CM said he had read in the media that Gandhi had quoted him as saying that he was nowhere in the process of procuring Rafale nor did he have any information about it then.