PM, finance minister must come clean on 'Modigate': Digvijay

Questions their silence on the issue and the status of Lalit Modi in this country

Keeping up the attack on the government over 'Modigate', Congress general Secretary Digvijay Singh today questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's silence on the issue.

The senior Congress leader also asked the ruling party to explain the reference to 'asteen ka saanp' in a tweet by BJP MP Kirti Azad which came as the row erupted over help offered by Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to scam-tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi.

Singh claimed that the government was justifying the help to Lalit Modi as having been extended on "humanitarian grounds", but opined that it involved hard matters of governance on which ministers are accountable to the people.

"I want to ask the Prime Minister, I want to ask Finance Minister, why are they keeping quiet? We would like to know whether Lalit Modi is evading tax? Why is he not coming to India? Is there a blue or red corner notice against him? Is he an absconder? Is he a fugitive? We want to know," Singh said.

He said that he had great regard for Swaraj, but added that when it comes to matters of state, it is the decisions that a minister takes for which he or she is accountable to the people.

"Therefore, we would like the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to come clean on this. We want to know the status of Lalit Modi in this country. Why is Mr Arun Jaitley quiet? Who is this 'asteen ka saanp'?" he added.

Azad, the former cricketer-turned-BJP MP, had yesterday made a reference to an 'asteen ka saanp' in a tweet while also claiming at the same time that there was a conspiracy by a party insider and a media personality to target Swaraj.

Meanwhile, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar today said that the matter had ended after the External Affairs Minister offered a clarification.

Referring to pictures being dug up by Congress showing Lalit Modi with BJP leaders, he said those were old photographs dating back to 2010 and that the opposition party's actions suggest that it has "lost the plot".