Govt. shrugs off Lalit controversy

Congress mounts pressure, but differences in party persist

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with Piyush Goyal, MoS (Independent) for Power, Coal, and New and Renewable Energy in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: Kamal Narang

With Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying on Thursday that Lalit Modi might be “relevant to television channels” but not to governance, the government sought to play down the controversy surrounding the former IPL chief’s alleged links with prominent BJP leaders.

Mr. Jaitley said the land acquisition and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bills were crucial for economic growth, and he hoped no political party would take an anti-growth and anti-development position.

He was reacting to the Congress’s repeated assertions that the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament would be disrupted if External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje did not resign for allegedly extending help to Mr. Modi, who is wanted by the Enforcement Directorate.

“Some people may be relevant to television channels; they are of no relevance as far as governance of the Government of India [is concerned],” Mr. Jaitley said. This is the second time he has spoken on the issue. He had earlier described the allegations against Ms. Swaraj as “baseless”. The government maintained the stance that the charges were a conspiracy to defame the government.

Mr. Modi, meanwhile, continued to create controversies with his tweets. He targeted senior BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal and former party general secretary Varun Gandhi on Thursday. While Mr. Mittal hit back at Mr. Modi on Twitter, Mr. Gandhi dismissed as baseless allegations that he had offered to intervene in an issue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The Congress, too, has denied the claim.

While the Congress kept up the pressure and reiterated its demand for resignations of Ms. Swaraj and Ms. Raje, it struggled to cope with the impact of differences within. Even as a section of Congress leaders have expressed reservations internally over bringing up the Dholpur Palace issue into the Modi-Raje saga or stalling Parliament, former Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj went public with his differences over the issue.

“I don’t think it is proper to take such a decision. Whoever has violated any law, the legal course must, and will, follow. But stopping the House from functioning is not good parliamentary practice. Parliament is the highest forum for discussing important issues concerning the people,” Mr. Bhardwaj said in an interview.

The Congress reacted by saying Mr. Bhardwaj was a respected party leader, but he should have expressed his opinion within the party first. “He should act with restraint and patience. At this age, he should instead of targeting his colleagues, give his valuable advice inside party fora. It will help him maintain his respect,” party spokesman Meem Afzal told presspersons.

Lalit's links

It has been less than a month since the Lalit Modi controversy hit the headlines, but the saga has snowballed into proportions no one could have anticipated, drawing in more players, making unrelated exposés, and revealing fissures within the ruling party.

Here's a snapshot of the growing cast of characters in this case and the twists the row has taken since the the story broke in the United Kingdom:

Lalit Modi's friends & foes

2 July: Lalit Modi has said that he will reveal BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal 's "rags to riches story" in the coming days.

2 July: Modi offered a job on Indofil Board to Sushma Swaraj's husband, >Swaraj Kaushal , the Congress said. The “nexus and quid pro quo” between the two had been established beyond doubt.

1 July: Modi said that BJP MP Varun Gandhi met him in London "a few years ago" and offered to "settle everything" with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

30 June: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said there was " >a criminal nexus between Mr. Modi and the Vasundhara Raje family ." They had "forcibly and illegally" occupied the Government owned Dholpur Palace.

27 June: Quite out of the blue came a >resounding endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on twitter from Lalit Modi: "Our PM is most savy man... When he bats he will hit the ball out of the park."

26 June: Mr. Modi got the Congress anxious when he tweeted about having "run into" >Priyanka and Robert Vadra in London. But the Congress was quick to deny it.

23 June: When an instagram picture of Mr. Modi with his "brother" Ronald K. Noble (then the chief of Interpol) emerged, >Noble said hadn't received any request from India to assist in any investigations.

22 June:>Dushyant Singh , son of Vasundhara Raje came under the spotlight after media reports claimed his company had received Rs. 11.63 crore in investments from Lalit Modi in 2008.

22 June: After news channels flashed photos of Modi with Mumbai Police Commissioner >Rakesh Maria in London, Mr. Maria said he had only asked Mr. Modi "to return to Mumbai".

22 June: Modi > took on former Union Minister Rajiv Shukla . Who paid for his private trips to London, he asked. Karunanidhi and Karti Chidambaram enjoyed IPL hospitality for free, he said.

21 June: Just as the BJP tried to do some damage control, Modi fired another salvo. Nothing moved in BCCI or IPL without Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley 's say-so, >he tweeted .

20 June The Sunday Times reported that Modi >used the names of British royalty , including Prince Charles and his brother Andrew while seeking his travel papers from the U.K. Home Office.

19 June Mr. Modi >blamed President Pranab Mukherjee for engineering the Enforcement Directorate’s probe against him.

17 June Documents supplied by Mr. Modi's lawyer revealed that >Vasundhara Raje had, in August 2011, backed his immigration application on the condition it wouldn’t be made known to India.

16 June In an unexpected twist >media baron Rupert Murdoch figured in the controversy. In a TV interview, Mr. Modi said Mr. Murdoch was miffed with him and masterminded the Sunday Times expose.

15 June At a press conference Modi’s counsel said that >Shashi Tharoor Salman Khursheed and P. Chidambaram scuttled his chances of securing a visa in U.K.

14 June Hints at fissures in the BJP were made by party member >Kirti Azad , who pointed to an in-house conspiracy targeting Sushma. In his tweets, Mr. Azad referred to a party insider.

11 June In a follow up to the first story the >name of Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj comes in as yet another senior politician who is making a case for Lalit Modi.

4 June London-based Sunday Times alleged that Labour parliamentarian of Indian origin >Keith Vaz helped Mr. Modi get his papers to stay in the UK despite his position as a fugitive from the law in India.

Published - July 03, 2015 01:43 am IST