New Delhi, January 2: Goa chief minister and former defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday denied having any conversation in cabinet meeting regarding Rafale fighter jet deal. Manohar Parrikar said the audio clip released by the Congress was its 'desperate attempt' to fabricate facts after the Supreme Court refused to initiate a probe into the Rafale deal.

"The audio clip released by the Congress party is a desperate attempt to fabricate facts after their lies were exposed by the recent Supreme Court verdict on Rafale. No such discussion ever came up during Cabinet or any other meeting (sic)," Parrikar said in a tweet. The Congress released an audio clip purportedly featuring Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane. Rafale Deal: Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushan Move Supreme Court for Review of Rafale Judgment.

In the audio file, a person claimed to be Rane by the Congress can be heard saying: "The Chief Minister makes one interesting statement. That I have all the information of Rafale in my bedroom. He said it's in my bedroom .. here only in the flat... Each and every document of Rafale is with me... that means he is holding them to ransom," Rane was heard saying in the audio clip which Surjewala claimed took place after a cabinet meeting of Goa last week.

Releasing the audio of a telephonic conversation between Rane and another person whose identity was kept anonymous, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked PM Modi to come clean on the deal and make public the Rafale files which Parrikar "is using to threaten the Centre and the BJP".

Reiterating the Congress allegation that the Rafale deal was "India's biggest defence scam", Surjewala demanded to know why the files were with Parrikar and asked if Modi was "afraid" of the Goa Chief Minister.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 02, 2019 02:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).