Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Friday said if his party comes to power in 2019, a criminal investigation will be launched into the Rafale deal and the accused will be punished.

Speaking to the media outside Parliament ahead of the government's reply, he urged defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman to answer the questions raised by the Congress on the multi-million-dollar fighter jet deal.

'We and the entire Opposition want that when defence minister speaks on the PM's behalf, the questions raised by us should be answered,' Rahul told reporters.

The Congress president also asked Sitharaman whether any objections were raised on the Rafale contract file by the negotiating team and the defence ministry.

The Congress chief also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of running away from the debate and said finance minister Arun Jaitley should answer questions raised by the Congress instead of abusing him.