Dholpur Palace property of Raje's son: BJP

The  Dholpur Palace came into the centre of lalitgate controversy on Monday with the Congress claiming that Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has “forcibly, illegaly occupied” the palace and converted it into a hotel in partnership with lait Modi. The BJP has rejected the charge and argued that the palace was a private property of Raje’s son Dushyant Singh.

In Delhi senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh produced revenue department records and argued that Raje’s estranged husband Hemant Singh had admitted before a court that the palace was the property of the Rajasthan Government. Jairam showed several revenue department documents between 1954 and 2010 indicating the palace was a Government property. He claimed Raje and lalit Modi’s company Niyant Heritage Hotels  turned Dholpur Palace into a “high end luxury hotel” and invested `100 crore without any role of the State Government. 

However, in Jaipur, State BJP president Ashok Parnami and Rajasthan Health Minister Rajendra Rathore rejected the charge leveled by Ramesh that the Dholpur Palace does not belong to Dushyant. They displayed documents to prove that Hemant Singh had handed over the custody of the palace to their son Dushyant. Parnami said: “We have affidavits signed by Hemant Singh regarding handing over (of the Dholpur palace) and taking over. Hemant Singh is now making false statements.”

He added that the City Palace Dholpur was paid a cash compensation of over `1.97 crore by the National Highway Authority in 2010 on acquiring a land when there was Congress Government in Rajasthan. “If the NHA paid the compensation to Dushyant, then who had the legal rights on the palace, Ramesh should know it”, Parnami argued.

Ramesh said that Raje in her 2013 Assembly poll affidavit had admitted having shares of the Niyant Heritage Hotels Pvt ltd along with her MP son Dushyant Singh and daughter-in-law Niharika, and lalit Modi. “The election affidavit reflects that she owns 3280 shares, her son and daughter-in-law about 3225 shares each and lalit Modi’s company Ananda Heritage Hotels Pvt ltd 815 shares, establishing the financial relationship, partnership and investment of overseas money from a tax haven,” he said adding it proved her business partnership with the former IPl chief, who is now a “fugitive”. He further alleged that lalit Modi had used the “Mauritius route” to invest in the company.

Jairam also tried to hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by describing him as “Swami Maunendra Baba” for his silence over the lalitgate issue. 

“Multiple layers of murky financial dealings, willful lies, unearthing of secret documents, non-disclosure of personal and business interests and patent conflict of interest of top most BJP leadership including Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan BJP CM, Vasundhara Raje in ‘Modigate scandal’ stand unequivocally proved. Brazen denial of three contradictory affidavits qua educational qualification of Education Minister, Smriti Irani and naked protection of Maharashtra Minister, Pankaja Munde in the ‘Procurement Scam’ of ICDS is equally appalling” Ramesh said. 

“Not only is the entire nation demanding decisive action to sack these Ministers/Chief Minister but these demands are now being echoed prominently from within the BJP — be it the remarks of BJP MP & former Home Secretary, RK Singh but also RSS ideologue KN Govindacharya,” he added.