Ready For Rafale Debate In Parliament, Congress Running Away: Vijay Goel

The Congress is running away from a discussion on the Rafale deal in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said today while asserting that the government is ready for a debate on any issue.

A dispute, be it on Rafale, the Cauvery river water, the RBI or the CBI, can only be resolved through discussion in Parliament, Mr Goel told reporters outside Parliament.

"The Congress is running away from a discussion on the Rafale issue in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The government is ready to have discussions on any issue in Parliament," he said.

Referring to the recent Supreme Court order rejecting demands for a probe into the Rafale jet deal, the minister said it was clear that the Congress was spreading "misinformation" on the issue.

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the pleas challenging the deal between India and France for the procurement of 36 Rafale jets saying there was no occasion to "really doubt the decision making process".

"I want to tell the Congress that the government is ready for a discussion on the issue of Rafale... But the Congress is not ready for a discussion and its members are instead raising unimportant issues in both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha," Mr Goel said.

The Congress has repeatedly criticised the deal for the 36 Rafale jets, alleging that the government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government.

The government has, however, denied any irregularity in the deal.

Disclaimer: NDTV has been sued for 10,000 crores by Anil Ambani's Reliance Group for its coverage of the Rafale deal.