The Congress is trying to sabotage the country's security preparedness by raking up the Rafale deal issue, despite the Supreme Court ruling that there was no need for a probe, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar said here on Saturday.

Javadekar, who is here to participate in the 31st annual convocation ceremony of the Goa University, said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was willing to have a discussion on the Rafale fighter aircraft purchase in Parliament, but blamed the Congress for demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe without discussion.

"This is nothing but sabotage of our security preparedness. We have already said that Rahul Gandhi owes an apology to the nation, to the defence forces and Lok Sabha also," Javadekar told the media on the sidelines of the convocation ceremony.

"The Supreme Court has clearly exposed the falsehood of Congress and also gave a clean chit to the deal by saying that no further enquiry was needed. Still if the Congress persists with the issue, the only conclusion is that it wants to stop the deal which will weaken the security preparedness of the country," the Union Minister said, adding that the Congress had delayed the purchase of the fighter jets for seven years and was now blocking the efforts of the National Democratic Alliance government.

--IANS

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