Lok Sabha briefly adjourned over Rafale row

The Lok Sabha was briefly adjourned on Thursday again for a third time over the issue of Rafale jet deal after Congress members created a ruckus.

Soon after the House met at 1 p.m., Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajn asked Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal to introduce three bills in the House.

When Goyal stood to introduce to amend the integrated Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act, 2017, amend the Union Territories GST Act, 2017, and amend the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017, the Congrerss members started raising slogans.

Following the ruckus, the Speaker adjourned the House till 2 p.m.

Earlier, Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge raised the issue during the Zero Hour and said that national security had been compromised. The government was trying to mislead the nation on the Rafale deal with France, he added.

Kharge said that under the UPA government, the Rafale deal was finalised at Rs 526 crore per aircraft. "Now there is a three-times increase in the price of the aircraft to 1,600 crore per aircraft.

"Rafale is the biggest scam of the country worth Rs 45,000 crore," he said. He demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the deal.

After Kharge's statement, all the Congress leaders approached the Speaker's podium holding placards that said "Stop misleading Parliament and People" and "Constitute JPC on Rafale".

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan then adjourned the House for 20 minutes till 1 p.m.

The House was earlier adjourned for 10 minutes during the Question Hour after the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) members created ruckus over the allocation of defence land in the state.

--IANS

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