JAIPUR: An aggrieved Lalit Modi, given the short shrift by once-friendly Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, appears to have gone on an overdrive trying to settle old scores with her. Their falling out occurred in December 2013, just before the Rajasthan assembly elections, when Lalit Modi had accused key members of her team of selling election tickets. There were also reports that Raje had ignored his candidates.

Modi now claims that Raje had signed a statement supporting his application to the UK government for a travel document in his presence in London - something a bemused Raje has denied.

The statement attributed to Raje reads, "I, Vasundhara Raje, of 13 Civil Lines, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, will say as follows: I make this statement in support of any immigration application that Lalit Modi makes, but do so on the strict condition that my assistance will not become known to the Indian authorities." It was circulated by adfactorspr, a PR firm hired by Modi's lawyer Mahmood Abdi, on Tuesday.

"Modi has turned vindictive and is now settling scores with Raje," said a senior BJP official, not wanting to be named. Besides, he added, Modi has tried to make sure that foreign minister Sushma Swaraj doesn't become a victim for helping him. That's why he is trying to establish that there were other politicians as well, and some even from the Congress, who helped him at different stages.

Lalit Modi had emerged as a parallel power centre in Rajasthan, seen as shadow CM during Raje's first term as CM (2003-08). Bureaucrats felt bruised by Modi's whims as he strutted around the
corridors of power as if he owned the place. "He used to sit with his foot atop central table in front of the CM," recalled a senior bureaucrat.

Therefore, it was a rude shock to Modi and his supporters when Raje completely distanced herself from him when she returned to office in December 2013. Despite Modi winning the Rajasthan Cricket Association elections, the district associations made a volte face and let a low profile former BJP minority cell leader, Amin Pathan, to replace Modi as RCA boss.

"Modi was peeved at sudden changes in the RCA, which he considered impossible without Raje's support," said an RCA official. RCA is currently defunct as the Rajasthan High Court has stayed Pathan's election as its president.

Modi was also aghast at the manner in which Raje had shelved a cricket stadium project in Jaipur, which was his brainchild. Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) had allotted 18ha land to RCA at Chop village in the outskirts of Jaipur towards Delhi in 2012 to develop the stadium.

The last straw for Raje must have been Modi's accusation that senior BJP official Bhupendra Yadav — known for his closeness to Arun Jaitley — had sold BJP tickets for the assembly election. The charge boomeranged when the BJP stormed to power with 163 out of 200 seats. Modi's putting off state and central bigwigs - Yadav has deep roots in the RSS and he was called in to iron out internal differences in Rajasthan BJP - may well have been the final twist of the knife into Raje-Modi friendship.