Lalit Modi row: Chidambaram questions Sushma Swaraj on her statement in Lok Sabha

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram today questioned Sushma Swaraj over her statement in the Lok Sabha that she did not help Lalit Modi get travel documents and wanted to know the truth about the three versions of her "intervention" in the matter.

"There are three versions of the 'intervention' by Ms Swaraj. We would like to know who is speaking the truth? British High Commissioner (James) Bevan or British MP Kieth Vaz or Minister Sushma Swaraj?" he said.

Chidambaram made the remarks in reaction to Swaraj's emotional statement in the Lok Sabha yesterday, saying that she had not helped Modi but his cancer-stricken wife.

Swaraj also asked what Sonia Gandhi would have done had she been in her place.

Chidambaram said, "To answer Ms Sushma Swaraj's question: Would not have left Lalit Modi's wife to die. Would have advised him to apply to the Indian High Commission for a temporary Indian travel document valid only for Portugal."

Congress has rejected as "tear-jerker" Swaraj's statement on the Modi controversy, saying it was "punctured with multiple holes".