NEW DELHI: After relentlessly attacking Narendra Modi Government over Lalitgate for a fortnight, the AICC headquarters here on Tuesday took a break, leaving it to its Rajasthan chief Sachin Pilot to step up the demand for the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
The Congress claimed victory when the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money sought updates from multiple probe agencies on the role of disgraced ex-IPL czar Lalit Modi in the alleged financial irregularities in the T-20 cricket tournament.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and Congress MP Jairam Ramesh had accused the BJP of compromising on its black money poll plank to protect Lalit and those who facilitated his exit from the country.
Lalit had uploaded about 200 pages of his responses to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to a website to prove “he had nothing to hide” and his lawyer hinted that there was more “explosive” stuff up his client’s sleeve.
However, sources in the Opposition as well as the government said Lalit would soon find the heat quite unbearable. “To save face, the government will have to show progress in the case before the Parliament session begins. It would be impossible for the government to continue in this silent mode in Parliament,” a senior Congress leader said, adding that without “a tangible result, there would be no Rajya Sabha or economic reform”.
Meanwhile, government sources said action was being initiated where it was required, adding that the Special Investigation Team was also reviewing the cases of BCCI officials and other individuals involved in the various IPL editions.
“The SIT will probe and review the black money cases and the illegal assets held abroad. People connected with the IPL will have to face the panel,” a source said.
The cases being probed by the ED against Lalit and other IPL, BCCI officials are related to the business deals reached in the T-20 tournament held in South Africa in 2009.