NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party appeared cornered on Wednesday evening with the Congress releasing copies of a seven-page document signed by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje supporting former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi’s immigration to the U.K. and pressure mounting on the party for her resignation.
Top BJP leader Vasundhara Raje was in London on an extended trip when she signed a secret affidavit supporting the immigration appeal of tainted cricket tycoon Lalit Modi, sources say pointing to new evidence.
That document – in which Ms Raje described the extensive investigation at home against Mr Modi as “politically motivated” – was released by the opposition Congress last night as it scaled up the demand for her resignation for helping a man engulfed in corruption cases in India.
Just four weeks before she signed that incriminating statement in August 2011, Ms Raje, according to documentary evidence and newspaper archives – was part of a BJP delegation to London organised by the Overseas Friends of the BJP, which helps popularize the party abroad and mobilizes support among NRIs. The delegation’s other members included then party president Nitin Gadkari and Smriti Irani.
Ms Raje, who also took a course in Climate Change at the London School of Economics that summer, is reported to have remained in London till mid-August when she signed the affidavit for Mr Modi in the presence of his lawyers.
The opposition has asked Ms Raje to make available all her travel documents to clarify her extended presence in London. The Congress has also called upon the BJP delegation members to clarify whether any or all of them met with Lalit Modi while on this trip, and whether their reported presence at a test match at the Lords Cricket Grounds was organised by Mr Modi.
The organiser of the trip, Vijay Jolly, emphatically denied any meeting with Lalit Modi and said: “We did see the Lords match. Mr Modi was not there.”Asked to comment on evidence that Ms Raje extended her trip, Mr Jolly said she would be better placed to answer that.
Mr Modi faces allegations of money-laundering, tax evasion and other financial crimes linked to his stint as the chief of the Indian Premier League.
The BJP had spoken in different voices earlier in the day with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying in the U.S. that the government would go by the rule book, but Home Minister Rajnath Singh brushed aside demands for resignations. “Our Ministers do not have to resign. This is not their [Congress] government. This is NDA government,” he told presspersons after a Union Cabinet meeting.
Ms. Raje had so far held that she did not remember signing any documents in Mr. Modi’s favour and those released by his lawyers last week bore no signatures.“Vasundhara Raje had been lying again and again. The papers are here with Ms. Raje’s signatures,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh declared showing copies of the statement.
The BJP reacted with caution, saying the authenticity of the papers was yet to be established.

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