'He attacks me always': Lalit Modi hits out at Rahul Gandhi, asserts innocence

Former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi has raised questioned on Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for targeting him in his speeches. He also challenged the authorities to take him to court, claiming that the lack of legal action over nearly two decades is proof of his innocence. He slammed Rahul Gandhi and claimed that the Congress government always targets him.

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"Every time you look at Parliament or you look at the speeches of Mr Rahul Gandhi, he always attacks me. Every time there's an election, he attacks me. Every time there's some issue that comes up, I'm being attacked. Why am I being attacked by the Congress government?" he said in an interview with ANI. He alleged that the then-Home Minister P. Chidambaram "threatened" him and deliberately blocked the tournament in Congress-ruled states. Lalit Modi claimed that while he was initially "friendly with every government," the situation soured when the Congress-led UPA government refused to provide security for the tournament, citing the 2009 General Elections. Mr Chidambaram threatened me and didn't want me to do it. I didn't want to move it [IPL to South Africa]."

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He also claimed that there are no legal case has been proven against him in the last 17 years. "Arrest you want to do, you have to take me to court. 17 years you haven't taken me to court. How can you arrest me today? If there was something there, it would be out... anything that I have done, or could have done, in the 17 years would have already been cleared. That is why there is no case against me," Lalit said. He claimed that he does not fear the legal system but is wary of political vendettas. He alleged that individuals with political "clout" and personal "axes to grind" are responsible for stirring up controversy against him. "I'm not afraid of the law. What I'm afraid about is that you have some people... they're political. Whether they sit in the opposition or they sit anywhere else, they have an axe against me. And they also have a lot of clout. So they stirred up..," he added.