Headlines
Congress questions PM's silence on Lalit Modi issue
New Delhi, June 25
The Congress on Thursday
questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's continued silence on the Lalit
Modi controversy and threatened to hit the streets if Rajasthan Chief
Minister Vasundhara Raje doesn't resign.
"We are open to
exploring all avenues including meeting the president and the state
governor to demand that the Rajasthan chief minister is sacked if she
doesn't resign on her own," Congress leader Sachin Pilot told media
persons here.
"Every Congress worker will be on the streets now in the entire state to demand the resignation of Vasundhara Raje," he said.
Accusing
the BJP of having double standards -- one for common people and one for
its ministers, he said: "If an average citizen of this country had
given an affidavit in a secret manner to help a fugitive, he would have
picked up by police.
"The BJP cannot run away from the fact that its top leadership is involved in abetting a fugitive."
Pilot said as far as the BJP was concerned, it was unable to decide whether Lalit Modi is a victim or a fugitive.
He also questioned the prime minister's silence on the issue.
"What
is the reason for the prime minister's silence. People who have
deliberately broken the law and have more or less accepted it now... why
is the BJP shying away from taking action against them."
"The
BJP has to face the reality and accept that their chief minister had
violated the law. Time has come for them to come clean and for them to
face the truth," he said.
"The prime minister must immediately
take action. The Congress has demanded resignations of three ministers,"
Pilot said the prime minister's silence was hurting the credibility of
his government as well as of his own.
The Congress on Wednesday cited documents carrying Raje's signature in support of former IPL chief Lalit Modi.