Raje then backed Lalit, said attacks on him politically-motivated
25 Jun 2015 5:45 AM IST
“Given my close understanding of and involvement in Indian politics, I have absolutely no doubt that the broad, full frontal attack that Lalit is currently facing in India is politically-motivated. Certain elements within Indian politics seek to preserve their own interest by exacting revenge on political opponents. This is exactly the motive that is guiding the attack on Lalit at the moment in India,” she had said in her witness statement before the British authorities.
She insisted that by “destroying” and “discrediting” Modi, the Congress party hoped to remove, “one of my key supporters” from the political scene. “In the course of doing so by virtue of my association with him, they hope to politically discredit me as well,” she said in the witness statement given on August 18, 2011.
The Rajasthan Chief Minister said the information contained in the statement was “true, correct and accurate” to the best of her knowledge and belief.
The statement was released by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh which at the outset has a ‘confidentiality notice’, insisting that it is provided on the “strict understanding that its contents and the identity of its maker are treated confidentially and that it is used only for the purposes stated in it.”
“I make this statement in support of any immigration application that Lalit Modi makes, but do on a strict condition that my assistance will not become known to the Indian authorities,” Raje, who gave this undertaking as the then Opposition Leader of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, said.
In the statement, released by the Congress, Raje also said, “Lalit’s close connection to me has resulted in huge animosity towards him from the Congress party, both at the Rajasthan and the national levels.”
“The political attack which is currently underway against Lalit in India, is in my opinion, designed to destroy Lalit’s reputation to keep him out of Rajasthan Cricket and politics and to thereby discredit me.”
Raje said she was also aware that Modi, in the context of his role as IPL founder and chairman, had major run-ins with prominent Central government ministers. “I will not comment upon those conflicts as they have never involved me directly. What is clear, however, is that they have only served to exacerbate Lalit’s difficulties with the ruling Congress party,” she said in her witness statement.
Raje said given her family’s long history in public and political life in India and its involvement with the BJP since its inception and due to her position of importance within the party in Rajasthan, “I am a key political target as far as the Congress party is concerned.”
She alleged that a significant part of Congress party’s election campaign (in 2008) was devoted to the propagation of smear campaign against her and Modi. “They made numerous unfounded allegations of corruption during my time as CM. By this time, Lalit had become a household name in India and indeed across the sporting world following the phenomenal success of the inaugural IPL.
“Lalit’s success was used by many of the cricketing and political old guard within the Congress with great <g data-gr-id="36">jealously</g> and animosity. By this point, whether he liked it or not, Lalit had been painted as a pro-BJP and an anti-Congress figure,” she said.
<g data-gr-id="75">Oppn</g> guns for <g data-gr-id="76">vasundhara</g> Raje
Pressure mounted on Wednesday night for the ouster of Chief Minister of the north Indian state of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje after emergence of a document purportedly carrying her signature to back Lalit Modi’s immigration application in the UK, with Congress saying she stood “exposed completely” while batting for a “fugitive”. Stepping up the offensive against Raje, who had claimed she did not recall having signed such a document, Congress accused her of “repeatedly lying” and demanded her immediate resignation.
“The curtains are off, the secret is out. The document signed by Vasundhara Raje dated August 18, <g data-gr-id="81">2011</g> supporting his immigration case before the British government is out. When the issue came out first, she feigned ignorance and then said she does not remember,” senior party leader Jairam Ramesh told reporters at the AICC briefing. Raje was alleged to have agreed to become a witness to the former IPL Czar’s immigration application provided it was kept a secret in India. “BJP has always maintained that if papers are produced with her signature, then she is culpable. There is no need of <g data-gr-id="79">anymore</g> evidence, Vasundhara Raje stands thoroughly exposed,” Ramesh said.
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