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Controversial cricket boss Lalit Modi has kicked up another storm, this time leaving the Opposition on the backfoot.
The former Indian Premier League boss took to Twitter to claim that he met Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra in London last year.
“Happy to meet the Gandhi family in London. I had run into Robert and Priyanka separately in a resturant - they were with Timmy Sarna. He has my no. They can call me. Will tell them what I feel about them exactly,” Lalit Modi wrote.
“Will mince no words. Will make no deal. But tell them witch hunt will now make them realize I was. If I remember correctly it was last year and the year before. Doubt either reported it to anyone. They were in power then,” his series of tweets added.
The disclosure will turn the tables on the Congress, which has been trying to pressurise the Bharatiya Janata Party to sack External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for helping Modi with travel documents and immigration in the UK.
Responding to Modi’s claims, Congress’s media chief Randeep Surjewala said a chance meeting between Robert Vadra, Priyanka Gandhi and Modi is not a crime.
He said Lalit Modi was working at the behest of BJP to divert attention to “non-issues” and reiterated the main opposition’s demand for resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for their help to him.
In a sharp attack on the BJP, he said it should tell its “black money stooges to not rely on red-herrings” and the government answer to people about accusations levelled at Swaraj and Raje.
“I can say with full responsibility that neither Priyanka Gandhi nor Robert Vadra ever interacted with Lalit Modi socially. If you see somebody in a restaurant, it is not a crime. ‘Chhota Modi’ is helping ‘bada Modi’ with lies.
“It is a diversionary tactic of the BJP to take attention to non-issues. The government should speak about real issue and not hide behind Lalit Modi,” Surjewala told reporters.
Surjewala also hit out at the BJP, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi should break his silence and tell why the NDA government is helping an offender.
The BJP was quick to react, with spokesperson Sambit Patra saying, “We want to ask questions as to why the Gandhi family was constantly in touch with Lalit Modi. As to why yesterday also they were meeting Lalit Modi. It’s thus obvious that none other than Sonia Gandhi can bring this to forefront.”