Why Government not making any efforts to bring Lalit back, asks

The Congress also termed as 'condemnable' the reported allegations against President Pranab Mukherjee that he, as Finance Minister in the then UPA government, spearheaded the party's 'revenge' politics against Lalit Modi.

"Allegations against the President are condemnable. What the government is doing to bring him back? Why red corner notice has not been issued to him?

"Why the government has not approached the Supreme Court to cancel passport issued to Lalit Modi?" Congress spokesman Meem Afzal asked, noting that till yesterday, Lalit Modi had been targeting former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and now he has trained his guns on the President.

Afzal attacked the government and the BJP alleging that they were 'shielding' External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Questioning the 'silence' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the matter, Afzal asked whether PM Modi would break his silence only when he would be the target of attack by the former IPL chief, a fugitive and economic offender. The government will have to say what action is being taken against the tainted cricket administrator, he added.

According to reports, the former IPL chief has accused Mukherjee of spearheading Congress' 'revenge' politics against him for Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's resignation.

"It was clear even before Tharoor resigned that Congress was furious over my decision to reveal Tharoor's ownership interest in the Kochi bid," Modi had said in his plea to the UK authorities while seeking permission to stay as a representative of an overseas business.

Modi also blamed Mukherjee for engineering the Enforcement Directorate's probe against him in retaliation to Tharoor's sacking as Minister of state for External Affairs, the reports stated.

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Amitabh Bachchan, Prince Karim Aga Khan get Padma Vibhushan

Among the 50 leading lights, who were bestowed with the three categories of Padma awards, legal luminary K K Venugopal, Dharmadhikari of Karnataka's Shri Manjunatha Swamy temple Dharmasthala Veerendra Heggade, nuclear scientist M Ramaswamy Srinivasan were given Padma Vibhushan.

Cheered by actor son Abhishek, daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai, wife Jaya and daughter Shweta Nanda, her son Agastye and daughter Navya Naveli, 72-year-old Amitabh, dressed in a black 'bandhgala' suit, folded his hands in respect as he received the honour from the President to thunderous applause.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior Ministers, BJP patriarch L K Advani, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were among those who were present. Due to illness, 92-year-old veteran actor Dilip Kumar, who was also one of the Padma Vibhushan awardees, could not attend the civil investiture ceremony held at the majestic Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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Land Bill: Opposition, in leadership of Sonia Gandhi, marches towards Rashtrapati Bhawan

Congress president Sonia Gandhi led the march which include a galaxy of politicians such as former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Devegowda, JD-U President Sharad Yadav, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi, SP's Ramgopal Yadav, DMK's Kanimozhi, INLD's Dushyant Chautala and RJD's Prem Chand Gupta.

Sources in the Opposition said Congress is playing a key role in the protest including the finalization of the draft of the memorandum, which will be submitted to President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday evening.

Sonia's attending the Opposition march on Tuesday is significant as neither she nor Rahul Gandhi on sabbatical, was here on Monday to lead the Congress protest against Land Acquisition at Jantar Mantar, which was a culmination of its padyatra from Bhatta Parsaul village that began four days back.

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