Denel deal to be probed: Pachauri in Rajya Sabha

As the Congress and its allies stepped up offensive against the alleged pay-offs in a defence deal with South African arms manufacturer Dene...

As the Congress and its allies stepped up offensive against the alleged pay-offs in a defence deal with South African arms manufacturer Denel during the NDA regime, Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachauri announced in the Rajya Sabha today that the matter will be thoroughly probed.

‘‘I am not in a position to say which agency will look into the matter, but the government is taking the matter very seriously,’’ Pachauri said.

During Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, the Congress members put up an unusually vociferous performance with Rahul Gandhi joining the chorus for an inquiry into the deal.

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Congress president Sonia Gandhi just looked on from the front row as Union Minister for Water Resources Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi hurriedly walked up to the rear benches to back the protest.

Most Congress members responded by either getting up on their seats or walking to the aisles, raising slogans. Some of them waved copies of newspaper reports on the deal.

BJP members V.K. Malhotra and Ananth Kumar kept objecting to the ‘‘unconventional act’’. But Congress members returned to their seats only after Speaker Somnath Chatterjee started calling out names of unruly Congress and RJD members.