Vasundhra Raje illegally occupying Dholpur Palace: Jairam Ramesh

NEW DELHI: The Congress has accused Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi of conspiring to turn the ‘state-owned’ Dholpur Palace into a jointly owned heritage hotel as part of what it calls their “give-and-take business relation”.

Intensifying its attack on Raje, who is accused of helping the fugitive former IPL chief extend his stay in London, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Monday alleged that the two had “collaborated and conspired to illegally turn the Rajasthan state government-owned Dholpur Palace into a private property and pumped in around Rs 100 cr into it to run it as Niyant Heritage Hotel, in which the Raje family and Modi’s Anand Heritage Hotels jointly owns shares”.

Modi had fled India for London in 2010 after cricket authorities suspended him as IPL commissioner following a spate of allegations including money laundering and match fixing surfaced against him.

Addressing a press conference at AICC, party spokesperson Jairam Ramesh released documents from Rajasthan government’s official revenue records as well as Raje’s estranged husband Hemant Singh’s submission before a court to show that Dholpur Palace (originally owned by Singh’s family) was declared a state government property soon after the merger of the principality into Independent India.