Lalitgate is fallout of Sushma-Jaitley tussle: Digvijay Singh

Bhopal, Aug 18: Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today said the Lalitgate scandal was the fallout of a tussle between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

"The Lalitgate scandal is a fallout of a tussle between Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley," Singh told reporters here.

He said even a blue corner Interpol notice has been turned into a red corner one against Lalit Modi, the former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner, due to Jaitley's intervention.

"The Lalitgate scandal has its genesis in the fight between the two camps in the BCCI. One group hacked the other group's emails and vice-versa, resulting in the scandal getting exposed. The whole issue started with a BCCI committee headed by Jaitley which recommended strong action against Lalit Modi in the IPL scandal," he said.

"Jaitley has never defended Lalit Modi," Singh said, to prove that it was a tussle between Sushma and Jaitley.

Singh also alleged Lalit Modi is vocal on the IPL issue at the behest of "Bade Modi" (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) while answering a query about whether there was any connection between Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi, since Narendra Modi was president of Gujarat Cricket Association when he was Gujarat Chief Minister.

Referring to Jaitley's remark that obstruction and disruption in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha is "anti- development" and "anti-growth", the Congress General Secretary said when the previous UPA government was in power, Jaitley used to say that disruption is a "legitimate parliamentary practice".

PTI