JOIN USFormer India cricketer and BJP MP Kirti Azad has demanded a probe against Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other BCCI members for foreign exchange violations during the IPL T20 season two league.
The Lalitgate appears to have opened old fissures within the BJP since the row engulfed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasudnhra Raje for helping disgraced former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi in availing British travel documents.
Azad went on air on Sunday to publicly criticise Jaitley days after he came out in support of Sushma. “Why the #IPL mess reminds me of Alibaba and Forty Thieves,” was one of his loaded tweets, which was re-posted by Lalit Modi.
Earlier in his tweets, the MP from Bihar, had blamed “ästeen ke saap (traitors)” within the party responsible for the controversy blowing out of proportion. Another party MP, Shatrghan Sinha had seconded his views while supporting Sushma.
Jaitley, not willing to comment on the controversy on Sunday, had in the past too declined to entertain a question wanting to know whom Azad was pointing at by using the Hindi phrase.
But, Jaitley, who is official tour of the United States, insisted in Washinton that Lalit Modi's Rs 11 crore transaction with Raje's son Dushyant Singh was a "commercial" one.
The growing chasm among the party leaders, an offshoot of the scandal, is playing out publicly for the first time since Narenda Modi became prime Minister in May 2014. He, however, backed both Sushma and Raje ignoring the Opposition’s demand seeking action against the two women.
The BJP on Monday reiterated its blanket support for Raje. “"I assured her (Raje) that the central government and the BJP stand strongly with her,” Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said in Jaipur after meeting her.