Lok Sabha adjourned till noon

New Delhi, Dec 18 (IANS) The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 p.m. on Tuesday after opposition and treasury benches faced-off over the Rafale fighter jet deal. Soon after the House met, the Congress, AIADMK and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members started sloganeering. The Congress demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 36 ready-to-fly Rafale fighter jets deal with France while accusing the government of lying before the Supreme Court on the matter. The AIADMK members wanted Karnataka to take back its proposal to construct a dam across the Cauvery river at Mekadatu, while the TDP raised several issues related to their demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh. Both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress members exchanged heated arguments with the opposition seeking an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi while the other demanding the same from Congress President Rahul Gandhi for misleading the House and the nation on the defence deal. As the din continued, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan tried to conduct the question hour. She sought cooperation from the members but they did not relent. She then adjourned the House till noon.