Raje attends NITI meet; but no parleys with PM, BJP chief

Embroiled in the lalit Modi issue, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Saturday attended a meeting of the NITI Aayog, but left for Jaipur without interacting with the BJP top brass — Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP chief Amit Shah — as was being speculated. Her office later issued a statement saying except for attending the NITI Aayog meeting she was not scheduled to meet anyone. 

“Such news is untrue and beyond reality, hence before broadcasting and publishing any such news it is advised to confirm it from the sources,” a statement from her office said. Raje, who has been facing mounting pressure from the Opposition to quit for her alleged role in the lalit Modi case, spent close to four hours attending the NITI Aayog deliberations. 

BJP sources said the meeting was avoided as it would have led to further media speculation about what transpired and also about her fate. More so, since the party has already made it clear that Raje does not have to quit as charges against her were “not corruption either technically or legally”. 

While there was no official confirmation about whether the Rajasthan CM had sought any appointment to meet either the PM or the party president. 

The CM avoided the media and returned to Jaipur in a special plane. As the media waited at the gate from which she had entered, Raje’s cavalcade left from the rear gate. Earlier, a vehicle in her convoy was also hit by a TV channel’s car as she was heading to the NITI Aayog from Delhi airport.

Raje was scheduled to visit london from June 27 to July 2 but cancelled the trip early this week in view of Saturday’s meeting. While her office and loyalist MlAs have been presenting a rigorous defence of her, the Chief Minister herself has kept a studied silence on the issue.In the meantime, the Congress continued to target the PM saying he was following ‘Raje Dharma’ and not ‘Raj Dharma’ by not removing the Rajasthan CM for her alleged involvement in dealings with the tainted former IPl chief lalit Modi. 

“The Prime Minister should follow ‘raj dharma’ and not ‘Raje dharma’ or ‘lalit dharma’,” party spokesman Ajoy Kumar told reporters here even as he repeated the party’s demand for the sacking of Raje and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who has also been in the eye of storm for allegedly helping Modi’s ailing wife.

Targeting the Prime Minister, Kumar said that his response on the issues of corruption and black money was “very disappointing” after his “tall promises” made during the lok Sabha elections.The Congress attack followed BJP spokesman Srikant Sharma’s defence of the Chief Minister saying, “The BJP fully supports Raje, who is our tallest leader in Rajasthan.” Unlike Swaraj, the BJP had apparently came a little late in the defence of Raje.

The Rajasthan BJP has, meanwhile, refuted all the allegations against her, saying the document which she signed in support of former IPl boss lalit Modi’s immigration application was never produced in court as she had backed out of it later.However, the Congress spokesman argued that Raje has committed an “anti-national” act by secretly supporting the immigration application of lalit Modi. This has exposed BJP’s “pseudo-nationalism”, the Congress spokesman claimed.