Headlines
Lalit Modi's salvoes aim to singe Congress
New Delhi, June 26
The Lalit Modi controversy
on Friday appeared to taint the Congress, with the former IPL chief
claiming that he had "bumped" into party president Sonia Gandhi's
daughter Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra in a London restaurant
last year.
He did not imply any wrongdoing on their part, but the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), smarting from several damaging
revelations by Lalit Modi, immediately sprang into an attacking mode.
"The Congress must explain. Why is Mrs Gandhi silent," asked BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra.
The
Congress asserted that Priyanka Gandhi and Vadra had "committed no
crime". Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said there was no
"social interaction" of any nature between them. "Looking at each other
in a restaurant is neither a crime nor morally improper."
The
BJP has been facing fire over Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's
reported connections with Modi. She is alleged to have signed documents
supporting Modi's application for residency in Britain even though he
was said to be a fugitive from India.
Lalit Modi tweeted
earlier in the day: "Happy to meet the Gandhi family in London. I had
run into Robert and Priyanka separately in a restaurant."
"If I
remember correctly, it was last year and the year before. Doubt whether
reported it to anyone. They were in power then," he said.
Modi is
embroiled in a row over alleged financial irregularities when he was
the IPL chief. The Enforcement Directorate has built up a case against
him. The government had also cancelled his passport.
Modi also
tweeted that the Gandhi couple was with Timmy Sarna who is with DLF
Brands Ltd. "They can call me. Will tell them what I feel about them
exactly," he said in the tweet.
The BJP asked Sonia Gandhi to
explain why Priyanka and Vadra met Modi, as claimed by him, since her
Congress party was demanding the resignation of Rajasthan Chief Minister
Vasundhara Raje over her help to Modi.
Surjewala, though, said that Lalit Modi was trying to come to BJP's rescue by creating "red herrings and diversionary tactics".
He
asked the government to release records of discussions the former
finance minister P. Chidambaram had with the British government
demanding that Lalit Modi be handed over to India.