Lalit Modi's salvoes aim to singe Congress

New Delhi, June 26: The Lalit Modi controversy on Friday appeared to taint the Congress, with the former IPL chief claiming that he had “bumped” into party president Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra in a London restaurant last year. He did not imply any wrongdoing on their part, but the Bharatiya Jata Party (BJP), smarting from several damaging revelations by Lalit Modi, immediately sprang into an attacking mode. “The Congress must explain. Why is Mrs Gandhi silent,” asked BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. The Congress asserted that Priyanka Gandhi and Vadra had “committed no crime”. Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said there was no “social interaction” of any ture between them. “Looking at each other in a restaurant is neither a crime nor morally improper.” The BJP has been facing fire over Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s reported connections with Modi. (ians)