With Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying on Thursday that Lalit Modi might be “relevant to television channels” but not to governance, the government sought to play down the controversy surrounding the former IPL chief’s alleged links with prominent BJP leaders.
Mr. Jaitley said the land acquisition and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bills were crucial for economic growth, and he hoped no political party would take an anti-growth and anti-development position.
He was reacting to the Congress’s repeated assertions that the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament would be disrupted if External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje did not resign for allegedly extending help to Mr. Modi, who is wanted by the Enforcement Directorate.
“Some people may be relevant to television channels; they are of no relevance as far as governance of the Government of India [is concerned],” Mr. Jaitley said. This is the second time he has spoken on the issue. He had earlier described the allegations against Ms. Swaraj as “baseless”. The government maintained the stance that the charges were a conspiracy to defame the government.
Mr. Modi, meanwhile, continued to create controversies with his tweets. He targeted senior BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal and former party general secretary Varun Gandhi on Thursday. While Mr. Mittal hit back at Mr. Modi on Twitter, Mr. Gandhi dismissed as baseless allegations that he had offered to intervene in an issue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The Congress, too, has denied the claim.
While the Congress kept up the pressure and reiterated its demand for resignations of Ms. Swaraj and Ms. Raje, it struggled to cope with the impact of differences within. Even as a section of Congress leaders have expressed reservations internally over bringing up the Dholpur Palace issue into the Modi-Raje saga or stalling Parliament, former Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj went public with his differences over the issue.
“I don’t think it is proper to take such a decision. Whoever has violated any law, the legal course must, and will, follow. But stopping the House from functioning is not good parliamentary practice. Parliament is the highest forum for discussing important issues concerning the people,” Mr. Bhardwaj said in an interview.
The Congress reacted by saying Mr. Bhardwaj was a respected party leader, but he should have expressed his opinion within the party first. “He should act with restraint and patience. At this age, he should instead of targeting his colleagues, give his valuable advice inside party fora. It will help him maintain his respect,” party spokesman Meem Afzal told presspersons.
Lalit's links
It has been less than a month since the Lalit Modi controversy hit the headlines, but the saga has snowballed into proportions no one could have anticipated, drawing in more players, making unrelated exposés, and revealing fissures within the ruling party.
Here's a snapshot of the growing cast of characters in this case and the twists the row has taken since the the story broke in the United Kingdom:
