MUMBAI: In yet another twist to former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi’s controversial travel document to Portugal, it emerged on Tuesday that Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was a witness to Modi’s application to the UK Government requesting them to allow him stay in the UK as a representative of overseas business. However, his application was rejected in September 2011.
Vasundhara’s name cropped up in the sequence of events in the documents produced by Modi’s counsel Mehmood M Abdi defending his client for his prolonged stay in the UK. Abdi claimed that he acquired those documents from the UK Home Ministry under that country’s Freedom of Information Act, which is similar to the Right to Information Act.
The documents show that Modi’s counsel firm Gherson had filed on August 25, 2011 an application to allow his stay in UK as a representative of overseas business. The application described Modi as one of India’s most successful and visionary entrepreneurs with a 20-year career spread across several industries, including chemicals, tobacco, entertainment and sports.
Elaborating on the merits of the permission, the application stated that under attack from the Congress, Modi was facing an array of investigative and legal proceedings by various law enforcement and financial regulatory authorities in India. Also, he faced a real danger to his life in India. His passport was revoked on March 3, 2011. So he could not travel. Along with this application, Modi had filed a statement detailing the need to extend his stay in the UK . Vasundhara, then Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, was a witness to this statement on August 18, 2011.
Interestingly, at least seven pages in which Vasundhara’s ‘testimony’ for Modi was mentioned are missing from the documents provided by Abdi. In the first three pages, she has introduced herself and has mentioned her educational, family as well as political background. The testimony abruptly ends after her introduction as Rajasthan’s first woman CM.
However, in his statement Modi clearly mentions his friendship with Vasundhara. “I discussed my idea (launching IPL) with many people, including my old family friend Vasundhara. Vasundhara’s family and my family have been close for many years.”
Modi stated that after becoming the CM for the first time in 2003, Vasundhara asked him to assist her to develop sports in Rajasthan. “The fact that I increasingly moved centre stage in Vasundhara’s reform of sport meant that I inevitable came to be seen as a pro-BJP, anti-Congress figure.”
He stated that he faced accusations after Vasundhara was defeated in 2008. “Soon after the change in government in Rajasthan, I began to face a series of accusations which were aimed at undermining my position as the president of the RCA (Rajasthan Cricket Association) and to exact revenge upon me for my close association with Vasundhara.”
Modi also spoke about his relations with sidelined Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief N Srinivasan in his statement. “From September 2007, my relationship with Srinivasan started to deteriorate in large part because of the formation of IPL and the ascendancy of my star meant that many people were tipping me as a future president of BCCI. Srinivasan therefore began to regard me as a threat to his future ambitions.” Modi had alleged that Srinivasan leaked inside information.
“He would deploy insider knowledge about players auctions and thereby allow Chennai Super Kings to bid tactically for the top players in the IPL player auctions and would push for umpires of his choice in matches involving the Chennai Super Kings.” Modi further alleged that Srinivasan tried to discredit him after he revealed Shashi Tharoor’s stake in Kochi team in IPL. “By joining with the attack against me Srinivasan saw an opportunity to get rid of me as a future opponent of the BCCI Presidency, to further the interests of his IPL team, as well as to ingratiate himself with the ruling Congress party. Srinivasan’s actions were an example par excellence of the way in which cricket, business and politics are intertwined in India.”
