Lalitgate: I helped a woman suffering from cancer, says Sushma Swaraj in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, facing Opposition fire over her request to allow ex-IPL chief Lalit Modi to travel to Portugal, made an emotional statement in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. She said she acted keeping in mind Modi’s wife’s “life threatening” ailment and wondered what Sonia Gandhi would have done in the same situation. While she asserted she never recommended to the UK government grant of travel documents to Modi, Swaraj admitted she told British authorities that if it acted on Modi’s request that would not hit Indo-UK ties.

Swaraj told the House, “We helped a woman who is a citizen of India who is not involved in crimes committed… I want to know what Soniaji would have done if she was in my place? Would she have let the woman die?” She was speaking before a House where there were not many in the Opposition benches, as nine parties had boycotted the Lok Sabha to protest against the suspension of 25 Congress MPs.

Swaraj said: “If helping a woman cancer patient is a crime, then I admit having committed this crime.” As the NDA members greeted her remarks with thumping of desks, around 18 MPs belonging to AIADMK and BJD, not party of the Opposition boycott, sat quietly. Swaraj repeatedly quoted a June 16 ET report, where the UK Home Office was quoted that it gave travel documents to Modi as per rules. “I thank The Economic Times for placing the facts before the people,” Swaraj said.