Jaitley scotches speculation, supports Sushma

Hordes of journalists turned up at North Block on Tuesday expecting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to clarify his stand on the link-up between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.

There were media reports speculating why Jaitley had not spoken out so far in the controversy, and some pointed to inner party rivalry between the two. Social media were also agog on why Jaitley had not spoken out in support of his ministerial and party colleague so far.

On Tuesday he did.

The news of the briefing earlier spread out on social media and television and around 100 scribes came for the press conference.

The briefing, attended by union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Jaitley, and Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh, besides the finance minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was ostensibly on the Jammu and Kashmir floods and the rehabilitation steps taken by the central government so far.

The brief statements by Rajnath Singh, Jaitley and Jitendra Singh on the Jammu and Kashmir rehab measures were heard patiently by the media persons. But all were waiting for the question and answer session to begin.

And when it began, all questions were directed at Jaitley, who had not spoken out on the issue of Sushma Swaraj helping Lalit Modi with documents to travel to Portugal last year.

Sushma Swaraj has said that she helped Modi - who is charged with financial impropriety - on "humanitarian grounds".

On Sunday, when the news broke on the Sushma episode, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded party chief Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, both of whom spoke out in support of the external affairs minister.

On Monday, it was the turn of senior party leader and union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar to speak in support of Sushma.

As the briefing ended, Rajnath Singh requested the media persons not to forget to write about the Jammu and Kashmir rehabilitation and development measures in their eagerness to write about the ongoing controversy.

"Don't forget Jammu and Kashmir," he urged. He must have known where the media focus lay.