June 30: The Congress is testing how long the BJP can sink its head in the sand and whether the turbulence will throw up a money-laundering skeleton.

The Congress today insisted that the Dholpur City Palace, which it accuses Vasundhara Raje and Lalit Modi of grabbing illegally, was government property.

The BJP did not field any heavyweight to counter the charge, preferring to stick to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy of silence.

The BJP's Rajasthan chief flashed a sheaf of papers to say that it had nailed the Congress's latest claim but did not share them with reporters present at the venue.

Opinion is divided in the Congress whether the party should split legal hairs and whether that would take the focus away from the "indefensible" endorsement Raje signed for Lalit.

But a Congress leader suggested that the party was kicking up dust every day on the assessment that renewed scrutiny might lead to a money-laundering trail.

The Congress had yesterday released land records to contend that the government owned the palace and its land, from where a hotel was being run by a company in which the Rajasthan chief minister holds shares and Lalit had made an investment.

Later, the BJP claimed that Vasundhara's son Dushyant Singh - who too holds shares in the company with his wife - had been given the property by his father and Vasundhara's estranged husband Hemant Singh in a court settlement in 2007.

Former Congress minister Jairam Ramesh today said the court order the BJP had cited yesterday was about "movable properties".

He questioned the validity of any such title transfer without the involvement of either the Rajasthan government or the Centre.

"Despite overwhelming evidence about the Dholpur City Palace being a government property, the BJP... tried to spread falsehood by referring to a decision dated 17.05.2007 of the additional district judge, Bharatpur, in a case titled 'Dushyant Singh vs Hemant Singh'," Ramesh said.

"A perusal of Schedule I to the (court) decision shows the decision was only with regard to 'movables' lying in the palace and did not transfer the ownership of immovable property."

A sarcastic Ramesh added: "The BJP omitted this key fact in its quest to perpetuate the falsehood. They lied. As far as I know, the Dholpur City Palace is still immovable though Lalit Modi is capable of anything, including turning the palace into a movable asset."

Asked about the purported swap of the Kesarbagh Palace for the Dholpur City Palace that the BJP says settled the ownership issue, Ramesh said: "We are not aware of any such swap. Where are the documents? We are giving you the original merger document from the national archive."

Citing a court petition, a lawyer has been saying in Jaipur that since the Kesarbagh Palace had housed some government palaces, Maharaja Udaybhan Singh of Dholpur (the father of Hemant) was given the Dholpur Palace.

The document, released by Ramesh today, describes the properties of Udaybhan and purportedly shows the City Palace as belonging to the state.

"But it shall remain in the possession and use of His Highness for his lifetime. Maintenance charges during this period will be borne by His Highness," says the document, dated April 13, 1949, furnished by Ramesh. Udaybhan passed away in the mid-1950s.

Ramesh was asked why the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), a central government department, had paid compensation to Dushyant when it acquired a portion of the land belonging to the Dholpur Palace.

He replied: "The 2010 jamabandi (revenue record) clearly shows the land belonged to the government but Dushyant claimed compensation. This is a double scam, a big fraud. This only means an individual duped the government."

Ramesh said Dushyant had secured compensation of Rs 1.97 crore. He said Dholpur residents Babu Lal and lawyer Srijan Suresh had lodged a complaint with the CBI director on April 10, 2013, alleging Dushyant had fraudulently secured compensation for acquisition of land belonging to the government.

Ramesh was asked why the then Manmohan Singh government had failed to check the claim before granting compensation and why the complaint had not been acted on.

He replied: "The land acquired was very small --- around half a kilometre, not hundreds of acres --- and such minor issues don't come to the minister. The complaint came in April 2013 and the UPA government went into election mode after some time."

Grilled further, Ramesh tried to skirt the subject. "The main issue is the nexus between a chief minister, a Union minister (foreign minister Sushma Swaraj) and a fugitive. The Lakshman Rekha between family, business and politics has got blurred," he said.

Official's transfer

Dholpur municipal commissioner Surendra Singh was transferred today to Niwai in Tonk district.

Asked whether the transfer had anything to do with the controversy over the Dholpur City Palace, Singh said it hadn't.

"No, it's part of routine transfers," he told The Telegraph. "Many others have also been transferred along with me. I have got my preferred transfer to Niwai. It is nearer my home in Jaipur." Niwai is 79km from Jaipur.