New Delhi:
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram today rubbished allegations of vendetta by Lalit Modi and said the government should ensure that the former IPL chief returns to India to face a corruption investigation against him.
"The government must use its authority to ensure that Lalit Modi faces charges in India," Mr Chidambaram told reporters.
The senior Congress leader reacted sharply to Lalit Modi's allegation that he was hounded by the UPA government and that his passport was wrongly impounded.
"The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had issued show cause notices and summons to Lalit Modi but he did not respond. ED briefed me that he was staying in the UK without a valid passport. ED requested me to take up the matter of Lalit Modi with my UK counterpart, George Osborne which I did after consultations with the cabinet," Mr Chidambaram told reporters.
He questioned why the government, despite his repeated demands, was not releasing his letters to Mr Osborne, the British Chancellor of Exchequer, asking that Lalit Modi be sent back to India. He said after the reply to his first letter, he had written a second letter couched in stronger words to Mr Osborne that Modi was facing investigations in India, his passport has been revoked and he had no right to live in the UK.
In an interview, Lalit Modi had alleged vendetta by the UPA after his revelations forced Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's resignation as minister in 2010.
After Mr Chidambaram's press conference today, Lalit Modi tweeted: "You illegally mr chidambram cancelled it (passport) The #Honorable high court gave it back to me and said to your govt -No Ball."
Mr Chidambaram had also attacked Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, saying her conduct in facilitating travel papers for Lalit Modi raised several questions.
"Why did the External Affairs Minister feel Lalit Modi, who is an Indian citizen, should have a UK travel document and not an Indian travel document?" he questioned.
"If Sushma Swaraj wanted to help Modi as a humanitarian gesture as was being claimed, why did she not write to the Indian high Commission and ask for the issue of Indian travel documents to him instead of recommending US travel documents?"