Former union minister P Chidambaram on Thursday hit back at external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj saying she was hiding crucial facts on her help to tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi.
Chidamabaram asked Swaraj why she had not asked Modi to apply to the Indian high commission in UK for a temporary travel document if she wanted to help him.
If Sushma Swaraj wished to help Lalit Modi on purely humanitarian grounds, why did she not advise him to apply to the Indian high commission in London for a temporary Indian travel document valid for visiting only Portugal,” Chidambaram asked at a press conference.
He asked Swaraj why she thought Modi needed a British travel document instead of an Indian one.
Indicating that the government was hiding something, Chidambaram asked why Swaraj and finance minister Arun Jaitley were selectively quoting his letter to UK’s chancellor of the exchequer instead of releasing it in full.
“Instead of debate we got diatribe, instead of dialogue, we got lecture, instead of answers we got a sermon, instead of facts we got fudge,” he said referring to Swaraj’s speech in the Lok Sabha.
He said the ruling BJP “did everything except answering crucial questions that arose out of Sushma Swaraj’s intervention on behalf of Lalit Modi.”
Swaraj, who is facing opposition allegations of helping Lalit Modi get British travel documents for quid pro quo, had hit out against the Gandhi family in her speech on Friday.
