Oppn dubs Rafale deal a scam, demand setting up of JPC

Congress and some other opposition parties today staged a walkout of the Lok Sabha demanding setting up of a joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Rafale fighter jet deal.

The issue was raised by the Opposition during a discussion on the first batch of supplementary demands for grants for 2018-19.

"By not replying to the allegations on the Rafale deal, the government has accepted whatever we have said. He (the Finance Minister) has accepted. They should resign," Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said soon after minister Piyush Goyal replied to the debate on the supplementary demands.

"We demand the setting up of a JPC on Rafale deal...we are walking out," he said and led the walkout of Congress and CPI(M) members who were present in the House at that time.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar urged Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to expunge all remarks relating to the Rafale deal.

"It seems that they are not walking out of the House but they will walk away from the 2019 elections," Kumar said.

Earlier in day, other opposition members too demanded setting up of JPC on the Rafale deal, dubbing it as a scam.

Congress MP K C Venugopal, while initiating the debate on the Supplementary Demand for Grants for 2018-19, said that the House should know about the cost of the Rafale deal and alleged that there was "a major scam".

"We demand a JPC inquiry into this deal," he said.

Objecting to his demand, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey urged Deputy Speaker M Thambi Durai that Venugopal should place the evidence before the House before making any "wild allegation".

Later, Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy also said that the Rafale deal was "one of the biggest scandals of independent India."