PM meets Rajnath, discusses plan to face Lalit-Sushma issue

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh amid the sharp attack by Congress-led opposition parties over former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi visa controversy, involving External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

According to reports, Modi and Singh discussed the government strategy to tackle the continued attack by the opposition over the issue. They also discussed government’s plan to move Supreme Court for revocation of Lalit Modi’s passport.

This came a day after former UPA minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram raised questions over the issuing of passport to Lalit Modi even when it was cancelled by the authorities in 2010.

Both the government as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have continued to back Sushma Swaraj over the issue, with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley even saying that her actions were the “collective responsibility” of the government.

Meanwhile, the Congress took a dig at the Prime Minister, saying he must come out of his “meditation” and break his “silence” over the issue.

"It is ordinance raj. All mantris have become tantris. One minister, what he or she eats, drinks, where they go. The Prime Minister knows everything. But he is unaware when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was talking to UK authorities on Lalit Modi's travel documents. "That means, there was consent of the Prime Minister (for granting travel documents to Lalit Modi)...he is liable. Prime Minister Modi should come out of political Vipassana, and keep truth before the nation," Congress spokesman Tom Vadakkan told reporters.