Congress sabotaging' country's security by opposing Rafale deal: Javadekar

Panaji: A day after the Supreme Court rejected probe into Rafale deal, Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday accused the Congress of trying to "sabotage" the security preparedness of the country by opposing the purchase of 36 fighter jets from France. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been alleging procedural irregularities in the deal.

"While supreme court has clearly exposed the falsehood of Congress by giving a clean chit to the deal by stating that no further inquiry is needed, the Congress is still persistent with their demand (for a JPC probe)", the HRD Minister told reporters on the sidelines of the convocation ceremony of the Goa University.

The Congress has been demanding a JPC probe into the deal. After the top court expressed "satisfaction" with the decision making process in concluding the Rafale fighter jet deal, the government on Friday said that there has been an experience in the past of JPCs working on partisan lines.

"The only conclusion which can be drawn is that the Congress wants to stop the deal which will weaken the security preparedness of the country. We will never allow this to happen," Javadekar said.

Accusing the Congress of delaying the deal for seven years up to 2014, the senior BJP leader said the party should have closed the purchase agreement when it was in power, but it failed in its responsibility.

"When we have concluded the agreement at the government-to-government level, they (Congress) are now putting spokes into it. This is nothing but sabotaging the security preparedness of our country," he said.

Javadekar reiterated the BJP's demand that Rahul Gandhi apologise to the country, defence forces and Parliament for claiming irregularities in the Rafale deal.