Vasundhara Raje in fresh Lalit Modi row, Congress too ensnared

New DelhiJaipur Pressure continued on Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to quit following charges of financial dealings with Lalit Modi but the BJP decided to defend her even as the controversy also shifted to Congress on Friday with the former IPL chief tweeting names of some top party personalities he had met recentlyCongress made fresh demands for Rajes resignation citing an election affidavit of 2014 in which she had mentioned holding shares in company owned by her son Dushyant Singh alongside Lalit ModiWith the allegations faced by Raje threatening to derail the monsoon session of parliament beginning next month as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is also facing demands for her resignation over her help in getting British travel documents to Lalit Modi who is being probed in India for alleged tax evasion Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on the issueParty sources said the leadership has decided to back Raje while tightening the noose on Lalit Modi in the cases faced by him It is learnt to have decided that Interpol will be requested to issue a RedCorner Notice against Lalit Modi to enable his arrestMeanwhile providing a new twist Lalit Modi tweeted on Friday that he had run into Congress president Sonia Gandhis daughter Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra in a London restaurant last year triggering demands from the BJP for an explanation from the Congress chiefHappy to meet the Gandhi family in London I had run into Robert Vadra and Priyanka separately in a restaurant He said the couple was with Timmy Sarna who is with DLF Brands Ltd If I remember correctly it was last year and the year before Doubt either reported it to anyone They were in power then he saidCongress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala defended the Vadras saying Looking at each other in a restaurant is neither a crime nor morally improperSpilling some more allegations on Twitter Lalit Modi claimed he and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal had sat and chatted for three days in IstanbulDid KAPIL Sibal a congress politician report we sat and ate and spoke at a wedding for 3 days in Istanbul he tweeted Asked by twitterati if he had met Sibal when he was a minister in the Congressled UPA he said No he was not He met few weeks ago Just for information Congress thinks I am a pariah thats why I mentioned himThe Congress kept up pressure for Rajes resignationAt a specially convened press briefing Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar alleged Raje had direct financial dealing with a fugitiveHe claimed Lalit Modi and Raje had shares in Niyant Hotels Pvt Ltd a company belonging to Dushyant SinghHe also targeted Narendra Modi over allegations surrounding Raje saying that he had promised not to allow corruptionCongress also alleged that an agreement inked by Raje government with Portugals Champalimaud Foundation was onesided and was a quidpro quo but the BJP denied the chargesMeanwhile in Jaipur Rajasthan BJP chief Ashok Parnami and state minister Rajendra Rathore referring to the immigration document cited by the Congress as evidence said it only had Rajes signatures on the last page and was signed when Lalit Modi had not been declared a fugitiveIt is a draft of deposition It has no meaning As a proof it has neither benefited Lalit Modi or his family the document has not been produced in a court by the chief minister Parnami saidRathore asserted the entire BJP in Rajasthan as also the central leadership were with RajeRajes office for the second time in two days issued a statement saying some channels were showing baseless misleading and unsubstantiated reports