Holding that the complaint is 'maintainable', metropolitan magistrate Akash Jain fixed August 28 for pre-summoning evidence.
Even as the government on Wednesday decided to convene a truncated three-week monsoon session of Parliament from July 21, the Congress stepped up pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek resignations of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, human resource development minister Smriti Irani and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
In a fresh trouble for BJP, Irani on Wednesday came under the scanner of a Delhi court, which took cognizance of a complaint against her for allegedly giving false information about educational qualification before the Election Commission while filing her nominations for Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha polls.
Holding that the complaint is 'maintainable', metropolitan magistrate Akash Jain fixed August 28 for pre-summoning evidence.
The court order came at the time when BJP is trying hard to get out of the controversy involving Swaraj and Raje for their association with former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who is presently in London and is facing charges under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
The Congress is also mulling a strategy to get other Opposition parties, so far divided on the issue, on board to collectively boycott the two cabinet ministers in the upcoming session. That means they will not allow the two ministers to answer questions on their ministries or any statements in both Houses of Parliament, a repeat of how the Opposition boycotted the then defence minister George Fernandes during NDA –I. A decision will, however, be taken by the Congress Parliamentary Party, once the party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi return from abroad.
Claiming that a new set of documents has revealed that Vasundhara had signed an affidavit to help the tainted former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi to get the UK stay permit, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said there was no scope left to allow her to continue in office.
Earlier, Union home minister Rajnath Singh, who presided over the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs that finalised the monsoon session dates, ruled out the resignation of any minister, saying "this is NDA, not UPA."
"Our ministers do not have to resign. This is not their (Congress) government, this is NDA government," he told reporters when asked about the Congress threat not to allow any business in the two Houses.
The Lok Sabha will in any case have one day less as it will be adjourned on the very first day as a homage to sitting BJP MP Dileep Singh Bhuria from Ratlam who died on Wednesday. It will, therefore, have only 14 sittings.
Incidentally, in the last Parliament session, Bhuria was fielded by the BJP to launch a counter-offensive against Rahul Gandhi on the Land Bill issue. The government decision to have only a short session came as a big surprise as it has a very heavy agenda of business that needs urgent disposal and it includes the passage of the Constitution Bill for ushering in the new Goods and Services Tax as also the controversial amendments in the land acquisition law. Some other key Bills the government wants passed in the monsoon session include amendments to the Lokpal and Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Acts, the Railways (Amendment) Bill, the Waterways Bill, and Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill.
At a press conference, Congress asked the PM to immediately sack the Rajasthan CM, "The curtains are off, the secret is out. Now, Vasundhara Raje's signature have been authenticated. Rajasthan CM lied time and again -- first she said that she doesn't know about the documents, and now her signature is validated. Rajasthan CM has not only violated laws and has also lied, she should resign immediately,” said Jairam Ramesh. Documents revealed that Vasundhara allegedly helped Lalit Modi get permit to stay in the UK. She allegedly filed application backing Modi in 2011 when she was the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly. The three-page document read, "I make this statement with support of any immigration/application that Lalit Modi makes. But do so on the strict condition that my assistance will not become known to the Indian authority.
As pressure mounted on BJP, the party continued to defend Raje questioning the authenticity of the document released by Congress. Sources said the party was of the view that it could not be made basis for seeking the chief minister's resignation.
"The Congress is frustrated so its using baseless allegations," BJP spokesperson Shrikant Sharma said.
While the BJP is facing embarrassment over the allegations of its leaders' links with Lalit Modi, Raje is a popular leader in the state and ousting her would have political ramifications. The BJP has rejected the opposition demand for resignation of Swaraj and Raje.
The Rajasthan BJP chief has also backed Raje saying all MLAs were behind her.
In Jaipur BJP's state president Ashok Parnami firmly rejected demands for the resignation of Vasundhara Raje and said the central leadership has not sought any explanation from her.
Parnami also refused to comment on documents having signature of Vasundhara Raje saying the context and content of the signature was not clear so it would not be appropriate to comment anything on that.
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