Thiruvananthapuram : Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Sunday said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s helping Lalit Modi was purely on humanitarian grounds and there was no sort of “collusion with matters pertaining to corruption”.
“Sushma Swaraj did it on humanitarian grounds. Well, doing something on humanitarian grounds is part of country’s culture,” he told a meet-the-press programme here.
“On the face it, there is nothing (that suggests) collusion with matters pertaining to corruption,” he said.
“We should act on humanitarian grounds. One person who is affected by cancer (Modi’s wife) is on her death bed and needed some help,” Gowda said while asserting that the External Affairs Minister had not done anything wrong.
“But nowhere did Sushma Swaraj speak about illegal transactions — (she spoke about) only some travel document, for a specific purpose. (There was) no transaction or business that comes anywhere near corruption,” he added. Taking a dig at Congress and other opposition parties for slamming the BJP-NDA combine on the issue, Gowda said Congress had no locus standi to take up the issue “as it does not come under corruption”. “They are attacking the government as they did not get any other issue,” he added.
Gowda also rejected reports which suggested ministers were not free to take decisions. “As far my ministry is concerned, there was no interference from any quarter,” he said.
On his ministry’s priority, Gowda said the government’s aim is to make the law simple and accessible to the common man.