Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

Trouble mounts: Rajasthan CM denies giving statement

As the Opposition mounted pressure on the government to take action against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje also got dragged into the controversy surrounding former IPL chief Lalit Modi on Tuesday.

Modi’s public relations team released a three-page note to news channels which put Raje, an old family friend, in deep trouble. The note revealed that Raje, then leader of the Opposition, gave a confidential witness statement on August 18, 2011, to British authorities supporting the former IPL chief’s immigration application.

Raje issued the statement after the UPA government had decided to revoke his passport on March 3, 2011. Modi, however, got his passport back through a Delhi High Court order on August 14, 2014. 

Modi has reportedly told news channels that Raje gave her testimony but it was not taken on record since she did not appear in a court pleading his case. “This witness statement 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,” said Raje’s statement which carried her name but no signature.

“I make this statement in support of any immigration application that Lalit Modi makes but do so on the strict condition that my assistance will not become known to Indian authorities,” the introduction stated.

The statement later gives a detailed account of her lineage, beginning from the fact that she is the daughter of the last Maharaja of Gwalior. 
 
This was much before Sushma Swaraj in her capacity as the external affairs minister gave a no-objection certificate last July to British authorities to grant travel papers to NRI Lalit Modi, living in London since 2010, if it was permissible under their immigration rules. 

The UK government allowed Modi to travel to Portugal to sign consent papers at a Lisbon hospital to carry out a surgery on his wife who was suffering from cancer.

After taking charge as chief minister of Rajasthan, the Raje government signed an agreement with the Lisbon hospital where Modi’s wife underwent surgery to start a cancer institute in the state.

The Rajasthan government signed the MoU with Champalimaud Foundation on October 2, 2014, two months before the surgery was carried out on Modi’s wife.

Raje, however, vehemently denied giving such a statement. “Of course I know the family…I have never made any bones about that...but I don’t know what documents you people are talking about,” she told a news agency.

Modi wishes Sharif on Ramzan with promise to free fishermen

 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart M Nawaz Sharif. PTI File Photo

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called up his Pakistani counterpart M Nawaz Sharif and conveyed “good wishes for the holy month of Ramzan”.

He also called up and greeted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Modi’s gesture to Sharif came close on the heels of the recent war of words between New Delhi and Islamabad.

“Also conveyed to PM Sharif our decision to release detained Pakistani fishermen on this pious occasion (sic),” wrote Modi on Twitter, shortly after making public his call.
“The fishermen released will be able to be with their families to observe this blessed month,” he added.

Sharif is learnt to have told Modi leaders were like heads of families, and should lead their people to peace and prosperity. Pakistan and India should work together for peace, he reportedly said.

Sharif recently slammed the “political leadership” of India for making “irresponsible” and “imprudent” statements.

The Senate and Pakistan’s National Assembly also passed resolutions condemning “provocative and hostile” statements from New Delhi and said the remarks reflected India’s “hegemonic mindset”.

Sharif’s statement was apparently in response to Modi’s remarks in Dhaka University during his recent visit to Bangladesh, where he had accused Pakistan of disturbing India “every now and then”, creating “nuisance and promoting terrorism”.

He had also referred to 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh, saying 90,000 Pakistani prisoners of war had been in India’s custody after the end of the war.

Islamabad on Thursday had also reacted to New Delhi’s not-so-subtle indications that the Indian Army’s recent raid inside Myanmar, targeting the camps of the insurgents that are operating in the North-East, was also a message to Pakistan.

New Delhi has since long been accusing Islamabad of supporting anti-India terrorist outfits and providing them sanctuary.