Headlines
'Sushma offered to quit but RSS sought she continued'
New Delhi, June 15
External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj offered to resign almost a week before the controversy
broke out over her help to former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi in getting
travel documents on "humanitarian ground", but her offer was rejected
on the intervention of the RSS, informed sources said.
The
sources said the news channel that on Sunday read out e-mails of a
British MP concerning travel documents for Modi, had sent an e-mail to
Sushma Swaraj almost a week before, seeking her response on the issue.
Soon after that she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and informed him of the matter in detail, a highly placed source told IANS.
Sources
said a meeting of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh functionaries was convened a day later by Modi to
discuss the matter and to chalk out the future strategy.
They
said at the meeting Sushma Swaraj clarified her stand on the issue and
said she was ready to resign as she did not want the government to face
any embarrassment. But RSS functionaries stopped her, saying she has
done nothing wrong, the sources added.
The RSS functionaries also
said that Sushma Swaraj had made it clear in her communication that any
help rendered by the British authorities to Lalit Modi should be
subject to their rules.
According to sources, the meeting chalked out strategy to defend Sushma Swaraj.
As
part of the strategy, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, Home
Minister Rajnath Singh and RSS leader Indresh Kumar came out in support
of Sushma Swaraj on Sunday.
The controversy, which first appeared in a British newspaper, went on to dominate Indian news channels from Sunday.