Embroiled in Lalit Modi row, Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje now in Dholpur palace plot

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday accused Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje of “forcible illegal occupation” of Dholpur Palace along with Mr Lalit Modi through a private company.

Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh claimed that several revenue department documents between 1954 and 2010 showed that the palace was a government property, but Ms Raje and Mr Lalit Modi’s company had turned it into a “high-end luxury hotel” and invested Rs 100 crore with no role of the state government.

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Hemant Singh, the estranged husband of Ms Raje, had admitted before a court that the palace was the property of the Rajasthan government, he said. Ms Raje and her family, as also Mr Lalit Modi, have constructed the hotel on property and land owned by Rajasthan, Mr Ramesh told reporters.

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Incidentally, this happened post-2009, when the state was ruled by the Congress. Mr Ramesh said Ms Raje, in her 2013 Assembly poll affidavit, admitted having shares in Niyant Heritage Hotel Pvt. Ltd along with her MP son, Mr Dushyant Singh, and daughter-in-law Niharika, and Mr Lalit Modi.

“The affidavit indicates that she owns 3,280 shares, her son and daughter-in-law about 3,225 shares each, and Lalit’s company Ananda Heritage Hotels Pvt. Ltd 815 shares, establishing a financial relationship, partnership and investment of overseas money,” he said.

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