Lalit Modi Row: BJP finally steps out to back Vasundhara Raje, rules out her resignation

Asked whether Raje or External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will face action for their links with Modi, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “The question is imaginary. There is no technical and legal base that you can say there is any point of impropriety.”

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Trivedi said the validity of documents produced against Raje is yet to be verified, and called the ruckus being created by the opposition “laughable”.

“We have already made it clear that there is no corruption. There is no technical or legal definition of corruption… misappropriation is not evident. Opposition is using these issues to make a mountain out of a molehill for political gains on feeble grounds,” Trivedi said.

“Before making any demand (for Raje’s resignation), it should be seen whether that demand is substantive. Whether any wrongdoing or corruption has taken place. To make such a demand in the absence of substantive evidence is not right,” Trivedi said.

On Dushyant, Trivedi said all facts being stated about Dushyant now had been mentioned in his Income Tax returns as well his affidavit before the Lok Sabha polls.

In Jaipur, too, state unit president Ashok Parnami and health minister Rajendra Rathore defended Dushyant and said that all transactions conducted by the Jhalawar MP’s company Niyant Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd were “recorded”. “Every transaction was recorded. Balance sheets were filed every year. Taxes and interests were paid and Income Tax returns were regularly filed by the company. It is not a fraud company, it is still operating,” Rathore said.

Parnami said, “We don’t know who Lalit Modi is. Dushyant’s company transacted with another firm, not an individual. After the transaction is done, what do we care?”

Asked about Modi buying a significant number of overpriced shares from Dushyant’s firm, and giving the company an unsecured loan worth Rs 3.8 crore, Parnami said there was no impropriety in both cases.

Parnami said “all 162 MLAs of the party stand firmly with the CM”. The BJP, though, has 160 MLAs in the state assembly.