Oppn targets PM over Lalit Modi row
Congress steps up pressure for Sushma’s resignation; BJP backs external affairs minister
new delhi — Opposition parties on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain the issue of help provided by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to scamtainted former Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi and also sought her resignation in the matter.
Even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stood by Swaraj, the Congress slammed its “double standards” and said that the prime minister must apologise to the nation over the controversy.
“This has happened because Lalit Modi... also is a ‘Modi’. Hence, the government of India is helping him. I strongly condemn it. I condemn BJP’s double standards.
“The government is jointly responsible for this. Swaraj should resign immediately. Since the government, too, is responsible for this, the prime minister should apologise to the nation,” said Congress leader Pramod Tiwari.
Speaking at a Press conference here, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, said: “For a prime minister who single-handedly runs the external affairs ministry, it is hard for us to believe that the prime minister did not know that active help was being extended to Lalit Modi.”
“Not only did Lalit Modi have a relationship with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, but also with the prime minister and BJP president Amit Shah,” he alleged.
According to British media, which quoted leaked emails, Sushma’s name was cited to put pressure on UK’s top immigration official to grant British travel papers to Lalit Modi, who is accused of misappropriation of funds (Rs4.7 bil-
First of all, there are very serious charges raised against the external affairs minister. But the prime minister has been quiet and silent
Sitaram Yechury
lion) in the T20 cricket tournament.
Sushma defended her decision to help Lali Modi. The minister said that she told Britain’s High Commissioner to India James Bevan along with Indian-origin Labour UK MP Keith Vaz that granting Modi the documents would not harm the nations’ bilateral relations.
“I genuinely believe that in a situation such as this, giving emergency travel documents to an Indian citizen cannot and should not spoil relations between the two countries,” she said in a series of tweets.
Modi was removed as IPL chairman in 2010 and later banned for life from holding any positions in the sport by the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India.
CPM General Secretary Sitaram
Sushma defended her decision to help Lalit Modi gain emergency travel papers in Britain. —
PTI file Yechury demanded that the prime minister tell parliament and the nation how the matter is going to be addressed. “First of all, there are very serious charges raised against the external affairs minister. But the prime minister has been quiet and silent.
“We are asking the prime minister to tell us how this is going to be addressed... So, in this situation, the prime minister, whose prerogative it is to keep whomever he wishes in the Council (of ministers), has to answer this,” Yechury told reporters.
Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy said Sushma should not have had intervened in the matter and now she must own up to having done something “improper” in her capacity as a minister.
The BJP though continued to support Sushma with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan saying she had helped Lalit Modi on “humanitarian grounds”.
“Sushma Swaraj’s life is filled