Lalitgate No audience with PM, Shah for Raje


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With TV channels reporting that Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah had refused to give her an appointment, Ms. Raje’s office in Jaipur put out an official statement denying these reports.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje arriving to attend the NITI Aayog meeting in New Delhi on Saturday.

The support extended by the Bharatiya Janata Party to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje falls short of the sort of endorsement it has offered to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. On Saturday, after attending NITI Aayog deliberations, she returned to Jaipur without meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP president Amit Shah. Reports suggest she had cancelled a trip to London to make it to the capital.

With TV channels reporting that Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah had refused to give her an appointment, Ms. Raje’s office in Jaipur put out an official statement denying these reports. “Request media to kindly cross-check facts. CM was in Delhi solely for the NITI Aayog meeting. She returned to Jaipur for there were no prior appointments,” the statement said.

The former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi appeared to be trying to reach out to the Prime Minister, after the BJP said it would seek an Interpol “red corner notice” against him. He tweeted: “Our PM is most savvy man. He does not need my advice. When he bats he will hit the ball out of the park. #respect only.” But as the government kept a low profile on the row, the RSS organ Organiser trained its guns at the Congress, with an article saying the revelations demand more explanations from the UPA government as the main scandal took place under the previous regime.

Supporting Raje difficult for BJP

BJP insiders say the party leadership is in a dilemma on how to deal with Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over the issue of support to the former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.

The revelations thus far about the business association she and her son, Dushyant Singh, had with Mr. Lalit Modi deter them from coming out in full defence of her. The fear of destabilising the Rajasthan government stops them from sacking her.

So, though party sources said the top leadership had decided to accept Ms. Raje’s defence in the controversy after a meeting the Prime Minister had with party president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday, none of them chose to discuss the issue with her when she was here.

On Friday, the Rajasthan unit of the BJP had stressed that that the document Ms. Raje signed in support of Mr. Lalit Modi’s immigration application to the U.K. government had never been produced in court. It claimed that Mr. Modi’s investment in a chain of hotels owned by Mr. Dushyant Singh was legal and had been disclosed to the authorities.

The Congress, of course, is keeping up the pressure on the BJP to sack all four leaders accused of wrongdoing — Ms. Raje, Ms. Swaraj, Union Human Resource Minister Smriti Irani and Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde.

Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar said on Saturday, “If the Prime Minister is helpless in securing the resignations, he should tell people about his failure to ensure zero tolerance to corruption and offer his resignation.”

Training its guns on the Congress, the RSS organ Organiser said in an article that the “resurfacing of Lalitgate has provided a golden opportunity for all the political parties to clean the mess in cricket once and for all”.

MEA no to RTI info on Lalit Modi passport, draws flak

The MEA said the application has been "transferred" to its Consular, Passport and Visa Division as well as to the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home.

With External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj facing opposition onslaught over ‘Lalitgate’, her office has declined to provide information about the controversy surrounding restoration of former IPL boss Lalit Modi’s passport, drawing sharp criticism from Congress and the Left.

Responding to an RTI plea containing seven questions, the External Affairs Ministry said, while a part of the queries did not come under the purview of the transparency law, regarding others it pleaded lack of information.

The questions included one about who had taken a decision not appeal in the Supreme Court the Delhi High Court’s decision restoring Lalit Modi’s passport.

“Kindly note that the office of External Affairs Minister (EAM) has informed that the questions in Serial 1 to 3 of your RTI does not seem to fall under the purview of the RTI act, 2005. As regards to queries Sl No 4 to 7, no information is available with EAM’s office,” the MEA said in its reply dated June 26 to Rayo, the applicant from Haryana.

The MEA, however, said the application has been “transferred” to its Consular, Passport and Visa Division as well as to the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home.

The MEA’s action drew stinging criticism from the opposition, with Congress calling it against the “spirit” of RTI ACT and CPI(M) alleging the transparency law has been “sabotaged” by the Modi government.

“This is against the spirit of the RTI ACT,” said senior Congress leader P.C. Chacko.

“In fact, any private information need not be disclosed but here is a case which is affecting even the security of the country also and person who is fugitive, who is an absconder, against whom there is an inquiry going on... and when information is sought on that, it simply cannot be treated as a private matter,” Mr Chacko said.

CPI(M)’s Brinda Karat said it was “more than just stonewalling”.

“It’s a shame that the RTI Act which provides a framework for some amount of transparency in governance has been completely diluted and sabotaged by the Modi government.

“So the government which came under claim of transparency and good governance is sabotaging the initiatives. Now they say they do not have the information....makes a mockery of the act itself and the law for transparency,” she said.

The BJP, however, made a cautious defence of the MEA move with party spokesman Nalin Kohli saying,”There is a process about RTI and there are certain rules about it and these rules are followed. If it is about specifics, the concerned officers would be the right place to ask.”

Reacting to the MEA blocking RTI reply, AAP leader Ashish Khetan said “What we are seeing today is a government and politics without accountability and zero transparency in the era of Amit Shah and Narendra Modi.”

The first three questions included why Ms. Swaraj did not advise Lalit Modi to apply for a temporary travel document to the Indian High Commission in London instead if she intended to help him on humanitarian grounds to travel to Portugal. It also asked why the External Affairs Minister did not insist on Modi’s return to India as a condition for issuing a temporary Indian travel document.

The questions from Sl no 4 to 7 included a query on whether the government has lodged any objections to UK for granting residency permit to Lalit Modi, who has refused to appear before the Enforcement Directorate, and what steps the government has taken since the issuance of fresh passport to the former IPL boss to enforce the ED summons.

It also included a query on who took the decision not to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against Delhi High Court’s ruling setting aside cancellation of Lalit Modi’s passport. It asked whether the ED, at whose instance the passport was cancelled, was consulted on the issue.

The RTI application also asked about government’s response to Lalit Modi’s “wild charge that his life will be in danger if he returned to India.”

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