NEW DELHI: It never rains but pours they say. And it seems to be doing just that for the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Modi government at the centre.And just as the dust was settling on the Sushma Swaraj-Lalit Modi controversy, out came tumbling another skeleton from the IPL cupboard in the form of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Two senior BJP leaders---one a central Minister and the other a state Chief Minister---went outside government to intervene directly with the authorities in the UK to clear the immigration papers and give legal status to a man wanted in India for embezzlement and fraud.

The new revelations, ironically released as part of a 250 page document to the media by the lawyers of former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi’s supposedly in his defence, actually contained a statement by Raje supporting “any immigration application” of Lalit Modi’s on the “strict condition” that this will not be disclosed to the Indian authorities. In other words an elected Chief Minister of a state of India was making common cause with a “fugitive” as the hyper Indian television channels have been describing Modi, in secrecy from her own government. This is, thus, an extremely serious issue and Raje by ignoring the media till late Tuesday night certainly has not made it easier for herself.

The statement that is part of the legal records clearly as having been submitted in support of Modi makes it impossible for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dismiss or even seek to defend Raje, a senior and important member of the BJP besides being the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. There is no reason to believe it is not true, as it has been included by the company of solicitors hired by Lalit Modi in the UK as one of the three statements given in his support. The other two are by his lawyer here Mehmood Abidi, and Robert Nicholls, a South African security expert.

Just when the Modi government thought it was coming out of the crisis it has been hit by the double whammy. A high profile press conference addressed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley putting the mighty weight of the government behind their Cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj was the highpoint of the BJP defence over the past couple of days in the Lalit Modi case. Given the finger pointing at Jaitley by supporters of Swaraj for fanning the controversy, this press conference was clearly intended to showcase BJP ‘unity’ and ‘solidarity.’

But its impact was lost within less than an hour as the document buried in the 250 page dossier released by Lalit Modi’s lawyers surfaced. And embroiled old Modi friend, Vasundhara Raje who was believed to have distanced himself from him at least publicly, in a scandal that will have far reaching reverberations now.

For two basic reasons. One, that now two BJP senior leaders---one a central Minister and the other a Chief Minister---have supported a man wanted under the Indian law for alleged embezzlement and fraud to get the papers legitimising him in the UK without going through the official route. Sushma Swaraj who spoke with British Labour MP Keith Vaz and others as India’s Foreign Minister to clear Modi’s pending application did not approach the British authorities through the Ministry of External Affairs. Former foreign secretary who was in harness at the time Sujatha Singh said that she had “zero” knowledge about this case. This was taken up by Swaraj in July last year.

Raje intervened for her old friend earlier, to be precise on 25 August 2011 when she held the position of the Leader of the Opposition in Rajasthan. And went a step further by stating, in writing, that her support for Lalit Modi came under the “strict condition” that this was not revealed to the Indian government and authorities.

This despite the fact that Modi had been directly responsible for her losing the Rajasthan Assembly elections in 2008. And when she had distanced herself from him had turned publicly against her as well.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. BJP state leaders complained about his excessive intervention in government decisions, and he was seen as being rude to the officials. At that time he targeted Jaitley in his tweets, that created a further stir in the BJP, and Raje came under pressure to either dump him or be dumped herself.

" 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. But given her statement of support that has emerged now, clearly there was an element of playacting here, and the two had never really parted ways.

These new revelations now have placed PM Modi on the crossroads. As while the party, along with the RSS had kept the inner differences from unravelling with the unequivocal support to Swaraj, he will not be able to wish this new scandal away. If he takes action against Raje, he will have to act against Swaraj and this can make the seams of BJP unity fray, and who knows, maybe even burst. If he does not take action he opens the BJP and himself to attack from not just the Opposition but even supporters for not just supporting corruption but wilfully allowing his party leaders to get away with it. Besides, the Congress and other Opposition parties have already started raising questions about his integrity, that will only become more strident if he stands on the side of Raje and of course, Swaraj.

The government of India is all shook up with the BJP falling silent after the Raje revelations. Lalit Modi who tweeted after the Swaraj details became public is also quiet now, at least in the immediate aftermath. A change from his “The battle has just begun watch the fun now,” tweet after it became clear that the government had decided to support Sushma Swaraj. 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. Perhaps at that point even he did not realise that he was being almost prophetic in that his old friend’s neck was suddenly in the noose.

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