Sonia attacks Sushma, calls Indian minister expert in theatrics

“When a theft occurs then two things take place. There has been a financial transfer here as well”, he said, referring to the fact that Ms Swaraj’s husband and daughter, both lawyers, had been associated with Mr Modi. “She [Sonia Gandhi] should tell the country exactly how much money has Lalit Modi paid her family to keep him out of jail and away from Indian authorities”, Mr. Prasad said.

The External Affairs Minister further put the ball in Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s court and asked as to what would be her action in a similar situation.

“If it had been (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi in my place, what she would have done?” she asked, inviting cheers from the treasury benches. “What Sushmaji did was by maintaining secrecy and keeping her ministry in the dark”, the Congress vice-president said.

The Congress, supported by some opposition parties, has been demanding the resignation of Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on their alleged help to Lalit Modi and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the Vyapam scam. “After this decision, government of the United Kingdom changed their position”.

The allegations levelled against me are baseless, Sushma told the Rajya Sabha which was adjourned as soon as she began to speak, with the opposition rejecting her statement and instead asking for a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.

Noting that the “boys of Congress” removed their shirt to protest “naked” against the Speaker’s decision to suspend 25 Congress members from Lok Sabha, Irani wondered if this was the value Rahul wanted Congress to absorb.

The Congress countered her outside the house which lacked parliamentary sanctity. Last year he was allowed to accompany his wife from London to a hospital in Portugal. Lalit Modi, a former commissioner of the Indian Premier League (IPL), fled to London in 2010 after Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated investigations against him for suspected foreign exchange irregularities.

For the fourth consecutive day, Congress members, led by the Gandhis, staged a protest at the Gandhi Statue in Parliament House Complex over the issue.

Sushma Swaraj had yesterday said that she was ready to face the consequences of helping former IPL chairman Lalit Modi’s wife on humanitarian grounds if it was a crime.

BJP MP Smriti Irani too strongly defended Swaraj, alleging that calling her speech “theatrics” was disrespecting the mandate of the people. “She spoke when the Opposition was not in the House”. Ranjeet Ranjan of the Congress said, “She (the foreign minister) should help poor women, instead of the wife of a millionaire”.