SLUG
SUSHMA SWARAJ ROW
PTI
NEW DELHI
The controversy surrounding External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's help to tainted former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi to seek British travel documents took a new twist on Tuesday with the surfacing of a document in which Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje allegedly backed his immigration plea.
The document, whose authenticity has not been confirmed yet, came into circulation just hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley backed Swaraj saying whatever she had done was in good faith and bona fide.
Titled “Witness Statement”, the document, said to have emanated from the Lalit Modi camp, had a confidentiality clause in which Raje purportedly supported Modi's case but did not want it to be revealed to Indian authorities.
Late in the evening, Raje distanced herself from the document saying “I do not know what documents they are talking about.” Asked if it was a media trial, she said that “it is left to you to decide.” The Raje episode came as a further embarrassment to the BJP and its government which have been battling the first major political crisis in more than a year since it assumed office.
Kailash Nath Bhat, Rajasthan BJP spokesperson, however, questioned the authenticity of the document saying there were no signatures of Raje and also that she had not been in touch with Modi for the last four or five years.
“This is being done to malign the image of the chief minister,” he said.
