New Delhi: In a move to counter the opposition onslaught in  parliament, over her alleged support towards tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi’s bid for British travel papers, Suhsma Swaraj, the Minister for External Affairs, made a series of tweets  that essentially said that she will reveal the name of the Congress leader in Parliament who was hard pressing her to give a diplomatic passport to Coal Scam accused Santosh Bagrodia.

“A senior Congress leader was pressing me hard to give diplomatic passport to the Coal Scam accused Santosh Bagrodia…I will disclose name of the leader on the floor of the House,” she tweeted.

Shortly afterwards, Bagrodia hit back saying that he himself had approached the foreign minister for a diplomatic passport.

“I am eligible for a diplomatic passport. I can’t see why my name is dragged into this, ” Bagrodia told India Today TV.

Former minister of state for coal Santosh Bagrodia has been summoned by the special CBI court as accused in connection with the allocation of Maharashtra’s Bander coal block to AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd.

The special CBI judge took cognisance of the alleged offences punishable under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) under the IPC and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of  Corruption (PC) Act.

In an earlier order in January the court had observed that Bagrodia along with ex-coal secretary HC Gupta and retired public servant LS Janoti had allegedly committed criminal misconduct and facilitated accused firm AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd in unlawfully obtaining the coal block.

On Tuesday, the Congress disrupted Rajya Sabha over the issue on the opening day of the monsoon session. It rejected the government’s offer of a debate, saying Swaraj must resign first.