Smriti Irani flays Congress for 'baseless accusations' against Sushma Swaraj

Accusing the Congress of making baseless allegations against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Union Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday said the former is running away from a debate in the Parliament.

"It's extremely unfortunate that baseless accusations are made for personal political gains. If there is any issue with regards to debate then they (Congress) should come to Lok Sabha and debate. Sushma Swaraj ji has thrown an open challenge publically that come to Parliament with any one paper to prove her wrong," Irani told media persons.

"That challenge cannot be taken up by the Congress party and that is why they are running away from a debate in Parliament," he added.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had earlier on Friday accused Swaraj of keeping her ministry in dark over Lalit Modi row.

The Congress vice-president also asked Swaraj to tell the nation exactly how much money she received from Lalit Modi so that he stays out of jail.

Swaraj had on Thursday insisted that she had made "no request or recommendation" to the UK Government for Lalit Modi's travel documents but had left the decision to Britain.

She also said that she had not helped Lalit Modi but his cancer-stricken wife.