CPI corners Swaraj, says she 'violated probity in public life'

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Sunday sought an explanation from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for helping controversial Indian Premier League (IPL) founder Lalit Modi with his travel documents and said that it is a clear violation of probity in public life.

"It is a clear violation of probity in public life, violation of conduct of a minister who has taken oath in the name of the Constitution," Raja told ANI here.

"Sushma Swaraj is one of the senior ministers in the government. She is holding a very important portfolio, the External Affairs. What forced her to go out of the way to help an economic offender, an absconder, she has to explain," he added.

The CPI leader further asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain as to how this is in accordance with the good governance that he has been promising to the nation.

"As head of the government, it is his responsibility to explain the conduct of his ministers and she is one of the senior leaders of the BJP. If she fails to give a convincing answer, her position will become untenable as a minister," he said.

The External Affairs Minister had earlier admitted to helping Lalit Modi with his travel documents, but made it clear that she did so only on humanitarian grounds.

Amid calls for her resignation by the opposition parties, Swaraj tried to clarify her position via a series of tweets.

Swaraj said that she took a humanitarian view of Modi's case since his wife was suffering from cancer.

"Taking a humanitarian view, I conveyed to the British High Commissioner that "British Government should examine the request of Lalit Modi as per British rules and regulations. If the British Government chooses to give travel documents to Lalit Modi that will not spoil our bilateral relations," she tweeted.