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Union Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj foiled an opposition onslaught against her over the Lalit Modi controversy by fiercely attacking the mother-son duo of the Gandhi family.
Swaraj maintained that she did not misuse her office to help the former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, in a biting retort, pointed to the Bofors scandal of the 1980s in which former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and several other Congress politicians were charged for allegedly receiving kickbacks.
Swaraj maintained that she did not misuse her office to help the former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, in a biting retort, pointed to the Bofors scandal of the 1980s in which former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and several other Congress politicians were charged for allegedly receiving kickbacks.
“This is called quid pro quo,” she said,as reported by Hindustan Times, attempting to be heard over shouting Congress MPs while taking a dig at congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
“During one of your (Rahul’s) long holidays, you should sit alone and go into the history of Congress governments. Come back and ask your mamma (Sonia Gandhi) how much money had been taken from (alleged Bofors conduit) Ottavio Quattrocchi and why daddy (Rajiv Gandhi) got released the killer of 15,000 people,” she said in an apparent reference to Bhopal gas leak accused Warren Anderson, as she cited the late Congress leader Arjun Singh’s autobiography, as reported by HT.
“Today, he (the PM) does not have the guts to sit in the chair and answer our questions. He has not guts to face us,” he said, reminding Modi of his “na khaunga na khaane doonga” pre-election slogan about ending corruption. “(Mahatma) Gandhiji had three monkeys – don’t see evil, don’t hear evil and don’t speak evil. Modiji has new types of monkeys that preach don’t see the truth, don’t hear the truth and don’t speak the truth.”
Heated exchanges between the opposition and treasury benches perpetuated throughout the debate that also saw Congress president Sonia Gandhi trooping into the well to protest allegations leveled against her by a BJP member over black money.
Rahul, who was not scheduled to participate in the debate, decided to take the floor to hit back at Swaraj.
“I respect Sushmaji a lot. Yesterday, she held my hand and asked why I was angry with her. I told her I was not angry. I looked into her eyes and told her that I was merely speaking the truth. She could not look me in the eyes,” Rahul said, amid the thumping of desks from Opposition benches and loud protests from the ruling side.
“I want to ask her two questions: how much money she and her family received from Lalit Modi who is the symbol of black money and why she helped him on the sly?” he said.
In response to oppositions demand of Swaraj's resignation,finance minister Arun Jaitley, who spoke for to the motion on behalf of the government, called her a scapegoat. Jaitley said the real reason for the disruptions was preventing legislation, particularly the constitutional amendment to roll out the goods and services tax.
The foreign minister denied her husband, lawyer Swaraj Kaushal, represented Lalit Modi in a case to get back his passport that was revoked by Indian authorities in 2010, while she also maintained that her daughter, Bansuri, received no money from the former IPL commissioner.
“She was a junior at ninth position in the appearance list (of lawyers). She appeared with her senior. Not a single rupee was taken by her,” she said.
Swaraj said there was no conflict of interest on her part and instead targeted Congress leader P Chidambaram and his wife.
“He was the finance minister when his wife, Nalini Chidambaram, was the lawyer in the Saradha chit fund scam case, whose file was with his ministry,” she said, a charge that Congress sources denied.
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News Source- hindustantimes.com, Image for representation purpose only
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