File photo: Sushma Swaraj with Lalit Modi during an IPL match in New Delhi in 2010. (Press Trust of India photo)
Led by Rahul Gandhi, the Congress today directly attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the massive row over Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj helping controversial former Indian Premier League boss Lalit Modi get emergency travel papers in Britain.
Speaking in Chhattisgarh, Mr Gandhi said: "There is only one man running the country and the government, that's Mr Narendra Modi. Mr Modi is standing behind Mr Modi. Mr Modi should sack Sushma Swaraj."
His party listed 11 questions for PM Modi and the BJP. "For a prime minister who single-handedly runs the external affairs ministry, it is hard for us to believe that he did not know that active help was being extended to Lalit Modi," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
"Not only did Lalit Modi have a relationship with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, but also with the prime minister and BJP president Amit Shah," Mr Surjewala alleged.
Sushma Swaraj has asserted that she supported Lalit Modi - who is being investigated for corruption in the multi-billion dollar cricket league he founded - on humanitarian grounds, so he could be with his wife during her surgery for cancer in Portugal.
Lalit Modi, whose passport was revoked by the previous UPA government, received travel documents from UK in July last year.
According to the British media, Indian-origin British MP Keith Vaz used Sushma Swaraj's name to put pressure on UK immigration officials to grant travel papers to Lalit Modi.
Documents also show that Keith Vaz wrote to senior UK Visa official Sarah Rapson that Lalit Modi had to "travel urgently" for two reasons - "a family wedding abroad and also the need to accompany his wife who was undergoing cancer treatment."
At its press conference today, the Congress held up these documents as proof that "not just the foreign minister, but the entire BJP government is involved in aiding and abetting a fugitive, perhaps with the tacit approval of the prime minister."
Mr Surjewala questioned: "By facilitating Lalit Modi to escape the Blue Corner Notice, is Sushma Swaraj not an abettor and should an FIR not be filed?"
The Congress has asked why the government did not appeal against a court decision in August to restore Lalit Modi's passport. Sources say it was the foreign ministry's decision not to do so.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Sushma Swaraj said there was nothing wrong in her decision to help Lalit Modi.