The man who is instrumental in inviting the wrath of the opposition on the ruling BJP and its leader Narendra Modi now appears to be seeking to make amends, after the party said it would seek an Interpol ‘red corner notice’ against him.
Lalit Modi, sitting in London, tweeted on Saturday that Prime Minister Modi was a “most savy (sic) man”.
The former chief of the Indian Premier League, embroiled in several controversies and whose passport was revoked by the Indian government, said that “when he (Modi) bats, he will hit the ball out of the park”.
Our PM is most savy man. He does not need my advise. When he bats he will hit the ball out of the park. >#respect only >https://t.co/KBurTiRiad
— Lalit Kumar Modi (@LalitKModi) >June 26, 2015
Lalit Modi, who has been putting out reams of information through tweets and other media, was apparently helped by External Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje, at a time when he was being sought by the Enforcement Directorate during the previous United Progressive Alliance regime.
Lalit Modi’s tweet praising the prime minister came on the day Ms. Raje was in Delhi, for an official meeting, but was planning to meet the BJP brass to give her side of the story. According to sources, she was expected to meet the prime minister, but latest reports said that the meeting had not come through.
Ms. Raje has accepted that she had signed a document supporting the application of Lalit Modi for a residence visa in Britain. The opposition parties say that at best this points to an impropriety by a leading BJP leader when the IPL chief was wanted by the authorities in India.
Lalit Modi, who has been staying in London for several years, is sought by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged financial irregularities when he was the IPL head.
He has been tweeting regularly, often implying nothing more than a meeting with political figures.
On Friday he said that he and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal had chatted over three days during a wedding in Istanbul.
Earlier the same day, Lalit Modi tweeted that he “bumped into” Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra in a London restaurant last year.
He did not imply any wrongdoing or impropriety on their part. But the BJP, under attack for “supporting a fugitive”, immediately reacted asking the Congress president to explain what the meeting between the three was all about.
Published - June 27, 2015 03:35 pm IST
