NEW DELHI, Jun 17: The row over help to tainted former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi by two BJP stalwarts Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje deepened today in the aftermath of his claim of his close ties with them as Congress mounted fresh pressure for their removal from their posts.
Government put up a muted defence of External Affairs Minister Swaraj but was more circumspect in the case of Rajasthan Chief Minister Raje with Telecom Minister Ravishankar Prasad saying they would await details regarding her purported help to Modi on his immigration plea.
Trouble for the Narendra Modi Government grew after Modi’s explosive claims in a television interview last night that Raje had supported in writing his immigration plea in Britain and that he has a “family” relationship with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj whose husband and daughter had provided legal services “free of cost” to him.
Modi had also said Raje had accompanied his wife to Portugal for her cancer treatment two years ago. Raje became chief minister of Rajasthan for the second time in December 2013.
Adding to Raje’s problems were media reports that Modi had invested Rs 11.63 crore in a firm owned by Raje’s son Dushyant Singh in 2008.
There was no comment from the Chief Minister today while Swaraj confided her remarks in a tweet saying “My daughter is a Barrister and Oxford graduate. What you say is absolutely false.”
At a press conference post the Cabinet meeting, Prasad defended Swaraj saying “as far as impropriety allegation is concerned, I don’t buy that logic. It was just a case of compassionate intervention for a humanitarian cause. That’s all.”
With regard to the surfacing of a document in which Raje allegedly backed Lalit Modi’s immigration plea, Prasad appeared a bit guarded.
“As regards to the Rajasthan issue, the details will have to be enquired into. The details will have to be taken,” he said, recalling that the Chief Minister had already spoken on the matter yesterday.
However, significantly BJP MP Kirti Azad today stood by his earlier tweet on the ‘snake in the grass’ suggesting an insider hand in the whole controversy.
Stepping up its offensive on ‘Lalitgate’, Congress demanded the immediate sacking of Swaraj and Raje and questioned the “conspiratorial silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The party also announced plans for an agitation in Rajasthan from tomorrow demanding resignation of Raje, holding her and Swaraj guilty of “gross Constitutional impropriety and blatant misuse of office”.
Party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters that the BJP leadership, “instead of defending the indefensible” needed to sack both of them without delay.
Swaraj and Raje are guilty of “violation” of various penal codes of CrPc, Surjewala claimed adding that the party would follow all options in the case. He was asked whether the party would take legal recourse.
“There is a clear-cut culpability on part of Swaraj and Raje under sections 107, 120-b, 166A, 172,173,177,217 of the Indian Penal Code. Raje also needs to be prima facie investigated for offences under Prevension of Corruption Act”, he said.
Targetting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said that the PM has “a conspiratorial silence, which can only come from a person who is guilty himself or who has something to hide”.
In Chennai, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram rejected allegations of vendetta levelled against him and the UPA and demanded that the Government should ensure that Lalit Modi returns to India to face the probe by Enforcement Directorate on various charges, including money laundering.
He said Swaraj’s action in helping Lalit Modi get travel documents from the UK was in violation of rules and a case of favouritism shown to someone she knew.
He also demanded as to who decided not to appeal against the Delhi High Court decision to restore the passport of Modi last year as normally a reversing decision is always challenged in a higher court.
The Congress leader wanted the Government to release the letters exchanged between him as Finance Minister and the Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne in which he had urged for sending Modi back to India since he was facing criminal charges here. (PTI)
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