BJP bats for External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj amid faction feud talk

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday remained steadfast in its support for Sushma Swaraj amid insinuations that the attack on the foreign minister was part of an internal feud.

With recognition that the row over Swaraj helping Lalit Modi may have somewhat undercut the Modi government's claim of cleansing the system, sources said the leadership was clear that the senior minister had committed no crime in seeking to organize a travel document for the controversial former IPL boss so that he could travel to Portugal where his wife was undergoing cancer treatment.

"We are clear and won't change the stand laid out by our party president Amit Shah that Sushmaji is not guilty of moral turpitude. Congress is trying to score cheap points but we aren't going to reverse our stand either to buy peace with opponents or appease critics who have either not understood the issue or are confused by design," a functionary close to the leadership said.

He was speaking to TOI after Rahul Gandhi upped the ante, dragging the PM into the line of fire insinuating that Swaraj had sought to help Lalit Modi at Narendra Modi's instance.

But even as the party remained firm on defending Swaraj, it was being realized that the row had cast a shadow over the party's achievement in providing clean governance after the UPA's decade-long rule marked by corruption and scams.

"We would have been better off if we had been spared the controversy. To that extent, this is a setback of sorts. Who can deny this?" said a senior source.

Even as the party scuffled with Congress, it was having to fend off speculation that the attack on Swaraj was an extension of the factional feud that raged in the party before Narendra Modi arrived as its undisputed boss. A hashtag "Aasteen Ka Saanp", created by party MP Kirti Azad suggested that the disclosure on Swaraj's help to Lalit Modi could be inspired from within.

The Darbhanga MP , an Arun Jaitley critic, tweeted that the FM, as a former BCCI functionary, was party to the decisions taken by Lalit Modi. "Lalit Modi is being probed by ED. Who were members of the BCCI EC who approved IPL in South Africa? Should they not be probed? What say Jaitley?" Shatrughan Sinha backed Azad. "He speaks after studying the matter," PTI quoted Sinha.

Youth Congress demands probe

Youth Congress demonstrated outside external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj's Safdarjung Lane residence on Monday, demanding her resignation. Youth Congress chief Raja Brar said, "There should be a probe by a sitting judge. If she has done nothing wrong, why fear a probe."