Gadkari demands apology from 'undemocratic' Congress for Rahul's 'immature' statement

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi or its vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, should apologise for his 'immature' statement on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

"Rahul Gandhi's statement on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was very immature and unfortunate. Congress President Sonia Gandhi or vice-president Rahul Gandhi should apologise for Rahul's statement against Sushma Swaraj," Gadkari said.

Gadkari further said he is hoping that seemingly immature statement made by Rahul Gandhi is taken back and at least Sonia Gandhi should apologies on his behalf.

"The Congress is not letting the House to function smoothly. Their demand of 'first resign then debate' is not right. The Congress has lost its faith in democracy. I appeal the Congress party to let the House function," he added.

Gadkari further said that all the other opposition parties except for Congress are willing for a debate in the Parliament.

Rahul Gandhi had earlier last month accused Sushma Swaraj of committing a criminal act that deserved jail.

He said, "Sushma Swaraj is a minister who the whole country knows has done a criminal act. When you do a criminal act, you go to jail. The foreign minister of India going around ... and saying please release this man. The CM of Rajasthan has done that. This is against the law."

Both senior BJP leaders have been accused of helping the former IPL commissioner, a fugitive, who is being investigated by Indian agencies for money laundering, secure travel documents in the U.K. in 2014.

The ruling NDA regime has said there is no question of them resigning.

Sushma Swaraj has consistently maintained thatshe helped Lalit Modi on "humanitarian" grounds so that he could give consent for his wife's cancer treatment at a medical facility in Lisbon, Portugal, in August 2014.

But according to some reports, Portugal's laws do not require the consent of adults for patients undergoing medical treatment.

Lalit Modi has been using his Twitter account to say that Swaraj Kaushal, Sushma's husband, and her daughter Bansuri Kaushal, offered him free legal services. The former IPL commissioner also picked up the hotel tabs for Swaraj Kaushal and Raje at the Four Seasons in Mumbai in 2010.

Making the plot even murkier is the financial link between Raje's son, Dushyant Singh, and Lalit Modi, who made a Rs.11.63 crore investment in his firm Niyant Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd. in April 2008. The shares of the company were priced at Rs. 10 in 2005, but the IPL commissioner paid around Rs. 7.83 crore to 815 shares at a staggering premium of Rs. 96,180.

The money invested in their firm was part of Rs. 21 crore that Lalit Modi's Anand Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd. received from an unknown entity Wilton Investment Ltd based in Mauritius, which is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.