New Delhi: Maintaining the government's stand on Sushma Swaraj controversy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today rejected all allegations against the Foreign Minister saying she acted with good intentions.
In a press conference in the National Capital, Jaitley said, “All allegations levelled are baseless. Her (Swaraj) statement and that of the party President that whatever she did was with good intentions.”
“She acted bona fide. The entire government and the party are one on the issue. There should be no doubt on this,” Jaitley said.
Jaitley's defence of his cabinet colleague comes two days after BJP President Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh had asserted that Swaraj had acted on humanitarian considerations in the matter of helping former IPL boss Lalit Modi get travel documents from Britain.
Asked whether Swaraj had acted on her own to help Modi, Jaitley said all ministers in charge of various departments were capable of taking decisions and in all decisions taken by the government there is a collective responsibility.
The minister also said that the Enforcement Directorate is investigating all the cases against former IPL chairman Lalit Modi and has issued showcause notice against him. He also rejected Modi's lawyer's claim that there is now blure corner notice against Modi. “Out of 16, in 15 cases show cause notices have been issued. I think there is a confusion about shades of blue corner notice. The interpol has issued a blue corner notice against Lalit Modi,” said Jaitley.
Significantly, ahead of the press conference called to announce a flood relief package for Jammu and Kashmir, Jaitley, Singh and Swaraj met at Singh's chamber in North Block and held discussions lasting an hour.
There were demands for Sushma Swaraj's resignation following reports of her facilitating the travel documents of Lalit Modi for signing the consent paper for the surgery of his cancer-struck wife.
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Arun Jaitley, however, avoided the question on who was the 'Asteen Ka Saap' in context of BJP MP Kirti Azad's tweet .
Earlier In his tweets, Mr. Azad had referred to a party insider, having a role to play in leaking information about the Minister's recommendation and her family's association with Lalit Modi, who is wanted in India on charges of money laundering.
Mr. Azad, on Twitter, claimed that it was a ‘snake in the grass' and a media personality who are conspiring against Ms. Swaraj.
