Jaipur : Embroiled in Lalitgate, troubled with the ongoing controversies for her son’s alleged involved with former IPL commissioner and ‘law-breaker’, Lalit Modi, beleaguered Vasundhara Raje after locking herself in a Madhya Pradesh temple for three days, reached hometown Dholpur on Sunday.
Seeking divine intervention of Ma Pitambara at the temple in Datia district of neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, Raje had shut herself from the outside world till end of Gurupurnima rituals. Only person she had interacted with during this period was Shree Ram Pandey, the main priest of the famous temple which has been known as a favourite place of heavyweight politicians from across the country.
“On July 31, she performed the guru poornima puja on a full moon, considered auspicious in Hindu tradition. Datia is about 100 km from Gwalior, where Vasundhara Raje’s family, the Scindias, which was once part of the Scindia’s principality,” said a source.
During the month of July, one of the worst phases in her entire political career, she visited the temple twice. During her first visit, Dushyant Singh, her son and a BJP MP accompanied the chief minister, known for her proximity to prime minister, Narendra Modi. Dushyant, a young leader in Rajasthan politics has been charged by his political opponents for taking money from Lalit Modi as an investment in his business which however, he has been denying ever since. Dholpur Palace, a portion of which has been turned into a private resort, is also facing controversies as political opponents of Raje have levelled allegations of ‘illegally occupying and owning’ government land to build some sections of the resort. Recently in another development, Rajasthan High Court issued notice to Raje government in a case of missing carpets asking why a CBI probe would not be ordered to trace the Iranian carpets worth hundreds of crores.
Prakash Bhandari
