Government fights to douse Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje fire

Finally, the Modi government has started feeling the heat over the issue of favours extended to absconding former IPL commissioner by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje. PM Modi himself made a reference to the issue after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The government is now mulling options to douse the fires raked up by the Opposition over the issue. It doesn't want the issue to ruin the monsoon session of the Parliament, likely to commence on July 20.

The options being discussed at the highest levels include, filing of an appeal in the Supreme Court to challenge a Delhi High Court order to restore Lalit Modi's passport and to reactivate the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into his business activities. This is a cause for concern for the government, which had recently undertaken an exercise to highlight its achievements over one year.

In somewhat a similar case pertaining to granting passport to Srichand Hinduja in 1998, then British PM Tony Blair had sacked his closest colleague Peter Mandelson, who had ensured the industrialist passport within six months of applying against the average of 20 months, in breach of British Nationality Act. The favour was reportedly extended to Hinduja for funding the Millennium Dome, a national edifice. Though, in the probe, no case of "cosy relationship" between Mandelson and Srichand Hinduja surfaced, the British politician was told to go on the basis of "impropriety".

The Parliament is expected to be in session for 20 days, possibly till August 14, after which it will adjourn sine die. Though government is feeling easy at the division within Opposition ranks on the issue of Sushma Swaraj, there seem not many friends for Vasundhara Raje in the Opposition, which is likely to disrupt the session to consume important government agenda like the Land Acquisition Bill and GST. Government sources told dna that there will be "something substantive" on the issue before Parliament recommences.

The government and BJP's stand have set off speculation on Raje's fate. There have been murmurs that Raje may meet home minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president Amit Shah at some point, though party sources said there was nothing scheduled. The issue has also caused concern in the RSS. According to sources, the RSS has conveyed to the party that the allegations were hurting the government's image. If the charges against Raje turn out to be true, it would be a big embarrassment for the party and the government. The entire issue has also brought out insinuations of an inner strife in the BJP.

As the government has put up strident defence to back Swaraj, her ministry is consulting legal experts to find the possibility of approaching the apex court as in normal legal process; there is a time bar of 90 days to file an appeal against a lower court order. It has already surpassed 300 days. Former standing counsel Jatin Singh, who contested the case in Delhi High Court on behalf of the MEA told dna that there is no prohibition to challenge the order, but now they will have to give sufficient reasons for filing appeal so late. "It was a fit case for appeal but the NDA government has weakened the case as the stipulated 90-day period to file the appeal is over. It would be difficult to explain the delay. Court will see the boanfide causes of delay in challenging the high court order," Singh said.

Government sources here said the MEA will file appeal after vetting legal issues with the Ministry of Law as well as with the ED. There are also suggestions to ask the ED also to join the appeal as a party to share responsibility. The Opposition has raised case of propriety and ethics as External Affairs Minister Swaraj's daughter Bansuri has been on Modi's legal team and was one of the lawyers who had sought the court's intervention, despite the ministry headed by her mother contesting the case. Modi's passport was revoked on March 3, 2011, by the regional passport officer, Mumbai, on a request from the ED – a decision upheld by the chief passport officer in New Delhi on October 31 that year, after Modi appealed the first revocation.

Another suggestion to reactive probe by the ED will have its own fall-out as it will also open business dealings of Vasundhara's son and MP Dushyant Singh. A perception at the highest levels in the government is that the developments have adversely impacted government's image. Lalit Modi's company Anand Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd is believed to have secured Rs 21 crore from a Mauritius firm and then extended an unsecured loan of Rs 11.60 crore to Niyant Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Dushyant Singh and his wife Niharika with the paid-up capital of just Rs 10 lakh.

While it will be almost impossible to get Lalit Modi back on a tax evasion charge, official sources are confident that if the ED succeeds to establish the case of money-laundering, it will be easy to repatriate him to India. Modi's revelations that it was Raje who took his ailing wife Minal to Portugal for cancer treatment in 2012 and 2013 also shows that the Rajasthan CM was in contact with Modi at the time when he was absconding. However, she distanced herself from the former IPL chief after she took over as CM in 2013.
Cong wants Raje, Sushma to go
The Congress on Thursday demanded the resignation of Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje over her helping former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi to secure a visa to the UK. The party also demanded removal of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, saying no such thing as 'humanitarian ground' existed in law.