Help to Lalit Modi had "consent and knowledge" of PM Modi: Ghulam Nabi Azad

NEW DELHI: The Congress today carried its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a new level saying whatever help was extended to tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi to stay out of the country and avoid facing enforcement agencies was done with his "consent and knowledge".

The party also warned that there will be no transaction of business during the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament if External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje are not made to quit.

"I think this (BJP defence of Raje and Swaraj) is a blunder the Prime Minister has done by extending support to these leaders. This cover up is now going to cost him heavily.

"The focus will now shift from Swaraj and Raje to the Prime Minister itself. This clearly indicates that whatever help was extended to Lalit Modi to stay out of the country and not face law enforcement agencies was with the consent and knowledge of the Prime Minister," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told PTI.

He was replying to a question on BJP defence today of Swaraj and Raje for their role in helping tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi in staying in Britain after maintainiung two days of studied silence.

"Had it not been so, he would have and he should have taken the action by now," the senior Congress leader said.