Lalit Modi row: Opposition targets PM Modi; BJP rallies behind Sushma Swaraj

NEW DELHI: Opposition parties on Monday reiterated their demand for external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj's resignation and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence over the issue of "help" provided by the external affairs minister to scam-tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi.
Even as the ruling BJP stood by Swaraj, Congress slammed its "double standards" and said that the Prime Minister must apologize to the nation over the controversy.
Congress party alleged that there was "quid pro quo" involved in her "assistance" to Lalit Modi in obtaining British travel documents and demanded that the scam-tainted former IPL commissioner be brought back and tried in India.
Youth Congress workers staged a protest outside Sushma Swaraj's residence and demanded her resignation.
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Shouting slogans and holding placards, the Congress workers demanded action against Swaraj and said she must quit or Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sack her immediately from the Union Cabinet. The protesters also burnt effigies of Swaraj.
Some of the Congress protesters also broke barricades outside Swaraj's Safdarjung residence in posh Lutyens Bungalow Zone in central Delhi. Around 100 protesters were detained by the police and were later released. Congress leader Digvijaya Singh asked Prime Minister to break his silence over the matter.
"This has happened because Lalit Modi... also is a 'Modi'. Hence, the government of India is helping him. I strongly condemn it. I condemn BJP's double standards.
"The government is jointly responsible for this. Swaraj should resign immediately. Since the government, too, is responsible for this, the Prime Minister should apologize to the nation," said Congress leader Pramod Tiwari.
According to British media, which quoted leaked emails, Swaraj's name was cited to put pressure on UK's top immigration official to grant British travel papers to Lalit Modi, who is accused of misappropriation of funds in the T20 cricket tournament.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury demanded that the Prime Minister tell Parliament and the nation how the matter is going to be addressed.
"First of all, there are very serious charges raised against the external affairs minister. But the Prime Minister has been quiet and silent.
"We are asking the Prime Minister to tell us how this is going to be addressed... So, in this situation, the Prime Minister, whose prerogative it is to keep whomever he wishes in the Council (of Ministers), has to answer this," Yechury told reporters.
Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy said Swaraj should not have had intervened in the matter and now she must own up to having done something "improper" in her capacity as a minister.
The BJP though continued to support Swaraj with Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan saying she had helped Lalit Modi on "humanitarian grounds".
"Sushma Swaraj's life is filled with transparency and honesty. Her honesty is beyond doubt. Whatever she did, she did it on humanitarian grounds. If someone is helped abiding by rules and regulations, then where is the crime in that?" he asked.
Noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan said that a minister helping the ex-IPL commissioner was "completely wrong". He demanded a strong conflict of interest law to deal with such cases.
"Instead, BJP is weakening the prevention of corruption Act by removing even criminal misconduct from it. This shows that the Narendra Modi government is not committed to fighting corruption," Bhushan said.
"In my view, she should resign, but that is for the BJP people to decide," added Bhushan.
Swaraj is at the centre of a major row over helping Lalit Modi to obtain British travel documents but found strong support from the government and the BJP, which have rejected opposition demands for her resignation over alleged "impropriety".
The genesis of the controversy was disclosure of emails showing that she had spoken to Indian-origin British MP Keith Vaz and its high commissioner here, James Bevan, favouring the grant of travel documents to Lalit Modi to go to Portugal, purportedly for his wife's cancer treatment in June last year.
Modi, who is wanted in India, has made London his home since 2010 to avoid a probe into alleged foreign exchange regulation violations in the T20 cricket tournament held in South Africa in 2009.
The previous UPA government had revoked his passport and pressed for his extradition.
(With inputs from agencies)