Lalit Modi tried to favour Gujarat industrialist, says Congress

NEW DELHI: Congress today alleged that former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi had sought to do favours to a Gujarat-based industrialist during the time Narendra Modi was the then state Chief Minister and Amit Shah, a charge rejected by the BJP as "baseless and unfounded".

Former Union Minister and party leader Kapil Sibal alleged at a press conference that Lalit Modi had tried to help two industrialists, one of whom was from Gujarat, in getting them an IPL franchise when Narendra Modi and Amit Shah were president and vice president of the Gujarat Cricket Association in 2009.

Sibal alleged that Lalit Modi had rigged the tender conditions to favour the industrialists. He claimed that an inquiry committee under Arun Jaitley had held that the objective of Lalit Modi was to "restrict the number of bidders to favour Videocon and Adani groups".

Reacting to the charge levelled by Sibal, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said Congress was resorting to "sensationalism" by levelling such "untrue, baseless and unfounded" allegations.

This, he said, showed the party's frustration and sought to know its response to Lalit Modi's tweets about meeting Priyanka Gandhi and the purported offer of a "relative" of Congress president to get him out of all criminal cases if he was willing to pay her.

Taking a dig, Javadekar said, "If Congress has started depending on Lalit Modi's tweets and e-mails, then it should also respond to these tweets. It just shows the desperation of Congress that Rahul Gandhi makes untrue and baseless allegations in the morning, and then in the evening they level more baseless charges."