New Delhi, Jun 24 : Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had backed the immigration plea of scam-tainted former IPL boss Lalit Modi in Britain in 2011, contending she had no doubt that the frontal attack he was facing in India then was “politically motivated”.
“Given my close understanding of, and involvement in Indian politics, I have absolutely no doubt that the broad, full frontal attack that Lalit is currently facing in India is politically motivated.
“Certain elements within Indian politics seek to preserve their own interest by exacting revenge on political opponents.
This is exactly the motive that is guiding the attack on Lalit at the moment in India,” she had said in her witness statement before the British authorities.
She insisted that by “destroying” and “discrediting” Modi the congress party hoped to remove, “one of my key supporters” from the political scene.
“In the course of doing so by virtue of my association with him, they hope to politically discredit me as well,” she said in the witness statement given on August 18, 2011.
The Rajasthan Chief Minister said the information contained in the statement was “true, correct and accurate” to the best of her knowledge and belief.
The statement was released by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh which at the outset has a ‘confidentiality notice’, insisting that it is provided on the “strict understanding that its contents and the identity of its maker are treated confidentially and that it is used only for the purposes stated in it.”
“I make this statement in support of any immigration application that Lalit Modi makes, but do on a strict condition that my assistance will not become known to the Indian authorities,” Raje, who gave this undertaking as the then Opposition Leader of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, said. (Agency)
