Sushma says she did no wrong, opposition not letting her speak

NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi terming as “criminal” the help extended by her to controversial businessman Lalit Modi in getting a travel document from UK authorities, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj reiterated her stand that she had done no wrong and is ready to make a statement in Parliament but the main Opposition is not allowing her to do so by disrupting Parliament.

Her remarks, made in a series of tweets on Saturday, have come after the washout of the first week of the Monsoon Session and no signs of the deadlock being broken in the coming week. The Opposition has been demanding that Swaraj, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and her Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan should resign in the wake of Lalit Modi and Vyapam controversies.

Defending her stand, Swaraj said, “... I am saying this time and again that I never requested or recommended travel documents for Lalit Modi... I left this to the UK government to decide under their own laws and regulations.

And that is what they did.” She emphasised that she helps people everyday. “I help people everyday. That too on a single tweet.... The lady is suffering from cancer for the last 17 years. This was the 10th recurrence of cancer,” Swaraj said, referring to Modi’s wife. The former IPL commissioner wanted a travel document from UK authorities to travel to Portugal for his wife’s treatment.

“I accepted a debate on the very first day of the Parliament session. [But] Congress members are not allowing a debate. As a minister I am accountable to the Parliament.

That is the only forum to inform the nation,” Swaraj said. Rahul Gandhi had said Swaraj had engaged in a criminal act and should face the consequences.

Swaraj on Saturday evening also hosted a tea for ambassadors and High Commissioners in Delhi on the occasion of Eid. Tea was attended, among others, by the Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit.