'SCALPHUNTER' LALIT MODI LAUGHS ALL HIS WAY TO THE NEXT PARTY

NEW DELHI: The government of India is all shook up but one man is definitely laughing his way to the next party. Lalit Modi, the man at the centre of the government’s deep discomfiture where it is still struggling to get out of the Oppositions firing line, is sitting pretty on bonafide papers with his ‘war weapon’ Twitter at his service.

After an initial “I will not comment’ tweet, he has characteristically thrown all caution to the winds and is all over the site with “The battle has just begun watch the fun now.” And again, “My guess is the wrong people’s resignations are being asked. I can assure u now the storm is about to hit. Lots more resignations will be…” He did not elaborate but given his longstanding feud with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley no special guessing powers are required to decipher his not-so-vague reference.

Lalit Modi appears at first glance as a quiet, almost conservative, highly sober personality. His few years at the top of India’s cricket bodies has effectively refuted this perception, as there is very little conservative or quiet about him. Starting from his encounter with the law as a sophomore at the University of California where he was arrested for the possession of cocaine amongst other things, Modi does not allow threats or opposition to faze him.

He is a party man, and loves celebrities and the Page 3 spotlights. He was seen partying hard while in India and despite being literally banished in 2010 where he found himself in London without a passport, he has not allowed this to deter him. As the Huffington Post reported, Instagram photographs of the intervening period show Modi partying with Paris Hilton and Naomi Campbell in foreign locales. He took to his new life like a duck to water, and now that the papers finally giving him a legal status in the UK have been processed and are in his hand with the intervention of the Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, and British Labour MP Keith Vaz, life seems to be looking up. As he said himself in a tweet last year, always using the social media to record his sentiments, and his feuds.

After getting the documents in July 2014 Modi sent an email to several persons, the list including Naomi Campbell and the Foreign Ministers husband Swaraj Kaushal where he said, “thank you for putting all your might and help and sleepless nights in resolving this major issue which has taken us thru’ tremendous roller coaster ride.”

And on to "Roger and his team backed by just super star Keith Vaz with the support of numerous friends in India, Malta, Portugal, Virginia Waters, Tel Aviv, Lisbon, Lyon and some unnamed stars I cannot thank you enough. The sigh of relief I got even for a minute as I held the document before relinquishing to my Portuguese friends was sheer delight. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart."

To this Vaz replied: "From the horses mouth! I will do a thank you we will need her again." The ‘her’ is not specified but is being interpreted in Indian political circles as a reference to Minister Sushma Swaraj who had been rather active in pursuing the case. And clearly her interest, humanitarian or otherwise, had little to do with the Ministry of External Affairs officially with former Foreign secretary who was holding charge at the time, Sujatha Singh informing the media that she had “zero” knowledge of this.

Lalit Modi is a creature of technology, and uses this to his utmost benefit. The power to tweet from any corner of the world, and take on the most powerful without having a direct face-t0-face confrontation has been used by the former IPL commissioner to full advantage. In the process he has collected several scalps, of which two were of Very Important Persons.

One was of a serving Minister in the Congress led UPA government. Shashi Tharoor had to resign in the wake of a controversy generated by Modi, almost entirely on the social media. Modi quizzed by Income Tax officials on ownership and bidding processes of the IPL franchises, tweeted about Rendezvous Sports World group stakeholders, that led to revelations about then Tharoor’s friend Sunanda Pushkars sweat equity in the IPL Kochi franchise, that led the BJP to raise a stink, that led to top level Congress meetings presided over by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

At the end of this all, Tharoor did not find the support he was looking for in the party and resigned.

Modi actually got a second scalp in Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje. Seen for a long while as her blue eyed boy, he did not limit his activities to the Rajasthan Cricket Board where she had placed him. But many in the BJP would complain that he was interfering in political decisions, and using his proximity to her for increasing his own clout within. At this time, he targeted the now Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his tweets, as he saw him as an adversary, and hence an obstacle in realising his ambitions. The tweets created a stir in the BJP, and Vasundhara Raje found herself in the dock.

" Elections round the corner... Seems coterie of Arun Jaitley- Bhupendra Yadav has started to sell tickets. Cash- for- tickets seems ( to be the) new mantra. Sad.”

And again, clearly warning Raje he tweeted, " Be careful... Arun Jaitley's Man Friday Bhupendra Yadav and your man Kamthan sell tickets for cash."

Raje lost the 2008 elections. BJP leaders were clear at the time that this was because of Lalit Modi, and the importance she had allowed him to gain in her government. The Congress used the Lalit Modi connection to mount a strong campaign and the BJP government lost Rajasthan.

Raje recovered to make amends, and distanced herself from Lalit Modi. Realising this he turned against Raje, and her dependence on Jaitley with whom she had reportedly built bridges. He was also upset at being replaced by Amin Pathan as the president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association. He had then insisted in a tweet that Raje be replaced by Om Mathur. Since her re-election in 2013 she has kept the distance, sending out a clear signal when the Jaipur Development Authority issued a notice to Modi for land where he had planned to build an international stadium. She took care to build relations with Jaitley and of course PM Modi, after a slightly rocky start. As a result the Rajasthan Chief Minister is out of the current controversy.

Interestingly, one scalp that he could not collect was that of one time mentor and National Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar. The two together in the initial stages of Modi’s career fell out. But here Modi’s attack was met deftly by the consummate politician, and drew no blood. There was no friendship left, but now that the Opposition has decided to gun for the BJP on the Lalit Modi issue, Pawar is out trying to tone down the decibels. He has been able to persuade the Samajwadi party to come out in support of Lalit Modi, although most other Opposition political parties are not listening to him.

Lalit Modi had given an interview to an Indian newspaper before the Lok Sabha elections last year, hinting that after the polls he would return to India under a new government. He sought to extend his excellent relations with Swaraj and her family, to other leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, according to sources, but was not successful. Interestingly, he lowered the ante- against Finance Minister Jaitley, probably in deference to the latter’s strong position in the government. However, Lalit Modi’s latest tweet clearly shows that he has plunged into BJP internal politics again, with both feet in the quagmire that he hopes will result in more resignations.

Currently Sushma Swaraj is fighting for her position in government, even as the Opposition demands her head. Lalit Modi is back to his tweets, that those he is ‘supporting’ often find themselves wishing he would stop.