New Delhi: A fiery and combative External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj gave a point-by-point rebuttal to the Congress party over the issue of Lalit Modi. In the process she also took on Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and turned the tables on the Congress party.
Here are the five main points of Swaraj's speech:
I didn't do anything wrong, only helped a woman who has not been involved in any crime: Sushma
Swaraj categorically denied that she had done anything wrong but had only helped a woman (Lalit Modi's wife) who is not involved in any crime.
"I didn't do anything wrong but if helping a woman who has not been involved in any crime is wrong, then I have done something wrong," she said.
My husband and daughter did not receive money from Lalit Modi: Swaraj
The EAM accused the Congress of turning a non-issue into an issue.
“My husband was not a lawyer of Lalit Modi in the passport case and my daughter was the 9th lawyer in the list of advocates for Lalit Modi and got not even a rupee," she said.
"Why should anybody give money to a junior lawyer who is 9th in the seniority row," she asked.
Instead she alleged that it was former union minister P Chidambaram who was involved in conflict of interest.
"Conflict of interest is when Chidambaram's wife is made a lawyer from the same ministry Chidambaram was working for. Chidambaram admitted this and had said then that he didn't know about this until he was informed," she pointed out.
At the same time EAM alleged that Chidambaram's wife was also part of the Saradha scam case.
While targeting Chidambaram, she said Congress was divided on bringing back Lalit Modi and the then Finance Minister was "alone" in his party in wanting action against him due to his "personal enmity", as per PTI.
Swaraj said while Chidambaram wrote to his British counterpart, the Chancellor of Exchequer, seeking his deportation, he never pressed for extradition as suggested by the UK government. Chidambaram had not even kept the External Affairs Ministry in the loop, she said.
Sushma takes on Rahul, rakes up Bofors issue
Replying to Congress vice president Rahul's charge of “thieves try to do things in secrecy” Sushma maintained that she didn't do anything in secretly.
Then she hit back at the Congress and said that “it was Rahul Gandhi's party who secretly aided Quattrochi in running away.”
Congress allowed Warren Anderson to escape to US: Sushma
And then Swaraj brought up the Bhopal gas tragedy issue and alleged that the Congress party had allowed the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson to escape to the US as a matter of quid pro quo.
'Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's childhood friend Adil Shahryar was in prison for 35 years and because of that Anderson was allowed to flee in a quid pro quo arrangement with the US," she said.
She added that Shahryar was released from prison after that and read out from former Madhya Pradesh CM Arjun Singh's book to substantiate her arguments.
Swaraj advises Rahul to take holiday and read Gandhi family's history
Slamming Rahul for his attacks on her, Swaraj said that the Congress VP should take a holiday and read about his family's history.
"Rahul Gandhi takes holidays. I would tell him to please take a holiday and read his family's history. And when he comes back, he should ask, mamma how much money did we take from Quattrochi. This is called quid pro quo," she said.
(With Agency inputs)
