New Delhi, June 26: Lalit Modi’s claim that he had “run into” Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra in London triggered a fresh war of words between the BJP and Congress Friday in the escalating row over the help rendered to the tainted former IPL boss by two leaders of the saffron party.
BJP alleged links between Lalit Modi and the Gandhi family, while the Congress said “it was a case of ‘Chhota Modi’ helping ‘Bada Modi’ (Narendra Modi) with lies.”
“Happy to meet the Gandhi family… in London. I had run into Robert and Priyanka separately in a restaurant,” Lalit Modi had tweeted Thursday night.
BJP, which charged that it was these links which had “prevented” Lalit Modi’s extradition under UPA rule, demanded that Congress president Sonia Gandhi make a statement on the matter.
Seeking to turn the tables on Congress, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “Today’s big revelation is the fact that Lalit Modi had met the Gandhi family. Only yesterday he met Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra. Why have they met him? BJP demands Sonia Gandhi make a statement why Gandhi family has been in touch with Lalit Modi all these years.”
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said running into anybody in a restaurant was not a crime and that Lalit was working at the behest of BJP to divert attention to “non-issues.” PTI