Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, a day after Millennium Post story – ‘Questions we need to <g data-gr-id="104">ask</g> but govt won’t answer’ – said there were still many questions the incumbent government needs to answer. “Firstly, the Prime Minister who tweets at the drop of his hat and makes a statement on every issue is silent! Nation demands <g data-gr-id="103">explanation</g> from the Prime Minister. Would he oblige? Is there a file in the Foreign Ministry on the Lalit Modi’s issue? Was Sushma Swaraj aware that he is under blue-corner notice? Did she know that he is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate ?” Singh questioned.
Raising the issue of Lalit Modi’s antecedents, Singh said: “Lalit Modi was indicted by a BCCI committee, headed by Mr Arun Jaitley, which had proved that he was rigging the bidding process in IPL to help a person who is known for his proximity to Narendra Modi. My hunch is (I <g data-gr-id="78">maybe</g> wrong) that the Prime Minister or Amit Shah has struck a deal with Lalit Modi to take care of both Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje Scindia. It is almost certain that all the leaks were by Lalit Modi himself.”
Attacking Sushma Swaraj, he said, “She has violated the oath that she had taken as the minister in this government – not to favour anyone – and she has an obligation to abide by the rules of business in the Government of India. Every decision the minister takes has to be processed by the ministry, which does due diligence and puts up the case to the Minister. In this case, when the person whom she is obliging is a fugitive who has 16 cases pending cases pending against him and ED investigating him under prevention of money-laundering why did she not consult Finance Ministry before recommending his case? Although I have the greatest regard for Ms Sushma Swaraj, in this case, she has acted most unwisely and against all norms and ethics expected from <g data-gr-id="98">a such</g> a senior and experienced political leader. She has no other option but to resign.”
“As far as Vasundhara Raje is concerned her statement is totally unpardonable and can be defined as <g data-gr-id="97">anti-national .</g>Both have no other option but to resign. I also would like to remind a similar case of Madhav Singh Solanki when he handed an envelope to Swiss Authorities in 1992 and he had to resign. But BJP is a party with <g data-gr-id="94">difference</g> which <g data-gr-id="79">hasdifferent</g> set of standards one for others and another when it comes to them,” he added.
The Congress plans to raise this issue in Parliament as well, he said, “We certainly plan to raise this issue in next session of Parliament, if this government takes no action against the two leaders - Swaraj and Raje.”
While his party colleague Jairam Ramesh while briefing the media in Delhi said, “Since June 14th, the Congress has been raising pertinent and pointed questions on the Lalit Modi affair that has engulfed the Prime Minister, the External Affairs Minister and the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. A total of 34 questions <g data-gr-id="90">have</g> been asked in the last four days by P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma and Randeep Surjewala. Not one question has been answered by the Prime Minister, by the External Affairs Minister, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan and by the Spokespersons of the BJP including its President. The silence is deafening and is definite proof that the BJP topmost leadership has many things to hide.”
“This is no longer a question of impropriety. This is now an issue of a deep nexus between a proclaimed offender against whom the Enforcement Directorate has cases pending and the PM, the EAM, the Rajasthan CM and the BJP President. The Lalit Modi-Gautam Adani nexus has also been clearly established by the documents now in the public domain.