It started with party spokesman Jairam Ramesh accusing Raje of converting a government-owned palace at Dholpur into a luxury heritage hotel, in partnership with fugitive former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
The Congress on Monday tried to further corner Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, but lost the plot along the way.
It started with party spokesman Jairam Ramesh accusing Raje of converting a government-owned palace at Dholpur into a luxury heritage hotel, in partnership with fugitive former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
Though Ramesh presented some documents to buttress his claim, Congress leaders were at a loss to explain why the deal happened when the Congress government led by Ashok Ghelot was in power in Rajasthan.
In Jaipur, state Bharatiya Janata Party president Ashok Parnami and Rajasthan health minister Rajendra Rathore refuted the charges.
Ramesh cited a letter from the ministry of states (as the home ministry was then called), government of India, dated April 10, 1954, on the properties of Maharaja Rana Udai Bhan Singh, the ex-ruler of the erstwhile Dholpur state, that were taken over by the government on the merger of his state into India.
The BJP claimed that the City Palace was given back to the ex-ruler in lieu of the Kesarbagh Palace, which now houses the Dholpur Military School, one of the five such schools in the country.
State BJP president Parnami flashed home ministry and general administration department documents to claim that the City Palace and surrounding properties were returned to the Dholpur royals in 1957. The Union government had also acquired Dholpur House near India Gate in New Delhi that now houses the Union Public Service Commission.
In the evening, when it was looking that the charges may backfire on Congress, the party stood firm.
Ramesh, who had levelled the charge on the basis of 10 documents, called a press conference in the evening to refute the claim of the state BJP chief that it was the property of Raje's son Dushyant Singh. He, however, cancelled the press conference as Congress sources said he "could not get further documents from Jaipur in time."
Ramesh also insisted that no property of the erstwhile Dholpur state was declared as private property after 1954, and, hence, he suspected the 1957 document displayed by the BJP.
He pointed out that the merger deal was clear that Maharaja Rana Udai Bhan Singh was allowed to use the palace only during his life time and it automatically became government property upon his death.
Though Ramesh circulated a statement of Raje's estranged husband Hemant Singh in a court describing the City Palace as government property, Parnami cited an out-of-court settlement approved by the court in 2007, in which Hemant Singh had transferred the palace to his son Dushyant.
Parnami further claimed that Dushyant was also paid compensation for land acquired for a national highway passing through the property during Congress rule. This would not have happened if it were government property, he argued.
Releasing documents, the Congress said that the Dholpur City Palace in Rajasthan was declared as government property on the merger of the princely Dholpur state into India by its then ruler, the late Rana Udaibhan Singh, grand father-in-law of Raje.
Ramesh said that Hemant Singh had admitted before a court that the palace was Rajasthan government property. He also released Raje's own affidavit on August 11, 2005 in a civil dispute between her MP-son Dushyant Singh and Hemant Singh, as also a 1980 statement in a court by Hemant Singh to show that the palace was not a private property.
Yet, the Niyant Heritage Hotel Private Limited (NHHPL), in which Raje has 3,289 shares, Dushyant and daughter-in-law Niharika have 3,225 shares each and Modi's company Ananda Heritage Hotels Private Limited (AHHPL) 815 shares, illegally seized and invested over Rs 100 crore in the property, despite the knowledge that they didn't own it to turn it into a hotel (Raj Niwas Palace), Ramesh said.
He said all this exposes the financial relationship and partnership of the chief minister with Lalit Modi, who invested overseas money from Mauritius into this company of Raje.
Documents released by Ramesh show that Jamabandi (revenue record) for Samvat 2012 (year 1955) reflects this property as 'Raj Mahal' comprised in Khasra No. 490.
The consolidation took place in Samvat 2028 (year 1971). Khasra number of the property changed from No. 490 to 875. Even post-consolidation, the Jamabandi of the property shows the property as 'Property of Government of Rajasthan' in Khasra No. 875.
Even the latest Jamabandi for Samvat 2067 (year 2010) reflects the Dholpur City Palace comprised in Khasra No. 875 (45Bighas-1Biswa) as 'Government property', Ramesh said, adding, "despite such clear evidence, Raje and Lalit Modi proceeded to convert the same into a high-end private luxury hotel, which is currently being run by their company, Niyant Heritage Hotel Private Limited. This happened post 2009."
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