New Delhi: Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor offered to quit as he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence on Sunday morning. Tharoor briefed Prime Minister on the Kochi IPL controversy and reportedly offered to quit saying, if he has caused embarrassment for the government.
Sources say Tharoor told PM that he committed no wrong and gained no monetary advantage from IPL Kochi deal. The PM and the Congress President Sonia Gandhi are expected to meet later in the day to discuss the Tharoor issue before the Congress Core Committee meets at 6.30 pm on Sunday.
The Congress itself is divided over the question of support to the External Affairs Minister. While a section of Congress MPs feel that Tharoor should quit since he has embarrassed the party, the other believes that removing him would mean conceding victory to the BJP, since Lalit Modi is considered close to its leaders.
However, certain party insiders feel that both Manmohan Singh and Sonia may favour Tharoor. Earlier, he had defied the austerity drive by staying in Taj Hotel, referring to economy class as 'cattle class' in tweets, criticising Mahatma Gandhi's and Nehru's foreign policy, besides calling Saudi Arabia a 'valuable interlocutor' between India and Pakistan.
The fate of the minister still remains uncertain as not many Congress MPs are coming out in his support. Congress sources say that had Tharoor offered to resign, he would have, at least, have saved the party from political embarrassment.
An internal probe carried out by the party does not spell good news for Tharoor. It says the minister's role was much more than that of a mentor. His OSD Jacob's presence at the Kochi auction further worsened the matter. The Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi who have, in the past, bailed Tharoor will now decide his fate. What's making things somewhat difficult for the Congress is the fact that the Opposition is using Tharoor to hit out at Dr Singh.
Some within the party argue that to make Tharoor resign now would mean a victory for the relentless Opposition campaign. But then, if Tharoor stays on, it's the Prime Minister who will have to face the heat in Parliament on Monday, a situation which the party top bosses want to avoid at all cost.
IPL controversy
The controversy arose over Tharoor's friend Sunanda Pushkar who got sweat equity worth Rs 70 crore from the Kochi IPL franchise. The controversy started when IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi tweeted the names of Rendezvous Sports World group stakeholders. Tharoor, on his part, rejected charges of misusing public office to seek pecuniary benefits. The minister says being an MP from Thiruvanantapuram, his only role was to serve as an adviser and mentor for the Kochi team.
Tharoor also denied telephoning Lalit Modi to ask him not to seek details of the owners of the Kochi franchise. Modi maintains that there was a question mark over the owners of the IPL Kochi franchise.
Rendezvous Sports World CEO Shailendra Gaikwad had claimed that Modi had offered $50m to Kochi consortium to drop out which was strongly denied by Modi later. It was followed by IT officials visit of the Lalit Modi's offices and the headquarters of IPL in Mumbai on Thursday.
Modi was quizzed on the ownership and bidding process of the IPL franchises by the IT officials. The IPL chief later said the visit was not a raid but an inquiry by the I-T department, adding the T20 league management would cooperate in the inquiry.
However, the Indian cricket board sources say the board is likely to appoint its President Shashank Manohar as the co-chairman of the IPL, whose Governing Council will meet in 10 days and take a decision on the appointment.
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