 "Lalit Modi levelling 'baseless charges' to rescue himself: Sadananda Gowda")
"Today Lalit Modi has dropped names of Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra. Tomorrow he may name somebody. Day after tomorrow he may name the owner of the channel which is telecasting everything."
"So, he wants to create some confusion so that somewhere the cases against him are dropped, and somewhere some political activity should go on - so that he can rescue himself from the clutches of law," Gowda told PTI here.
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The former IPL chief claimed in his tweets last night that he met Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra in London. "Happy to meet the Gandhi family in London. I had run into Robert and Priyanka separately in a restaurant - they were with Timmy Sarna. He has my no. They can call me. Will tell them what I feel about them exactly," Modi has said.
Asked if the people can expect the Central government to book Lalit Modi anytime soon, Gowda said, the former IPL Commissioner cannot escape from the clutches of law as he had "swallowed big money".
"Certainly (we will book Modi). The man who swallowed so much of money and committed such a blunder, cannot escape from the clutches of law," he said.
Flaying the previous Congress-led government, Gowda said unlike the UPA, NDA government had taken action by initiating an ED probe into the matter.
"This matter came to focus in 2010. For the last four years the then government did not take any action. Our Finance Minister has said that already some ED cases are going on and investigation is going on. So, after our government came to power, ED initiatives have been taken up. It will take its own course because it is the matter pertaining to ministry of finance," he said.
Defending Raje and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Gowda said their actions do not amount to corruption as there were no money transactions between Modi and them.
"As far as Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhra Raje are concerned, there is practically nothing. Is there any money transaction between them and Lalit Modi? As far as Dushyant (Singh) is concerned, of course, he had his own company - that company had some relations with Lalit Modi company," he said.
Singh, son of Raje, has been under attack over media reports that his company received Rs 11.63 crore in investments from Modi in 2008.
Gowda further said, "Corruption is somebody misusing government money. As far as personal dealings and commercial transactions - don't come under corruption charges.