Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s 11-month innings in the government came to an end on Sunday.
Tharoor handed over his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late in the night after the core committee of the Congress party found his continuance in the council of ministers “untenable” in the backdrop of the IPL controversy.
His resignation was accepted and is likely to be sent to the President on Monday.
According to top sources in the Congress, the members of the core committee did not have any difference of opinion on this matter and felt that Tharoor should step down.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony and political secretary to the Congress president Ahmed Patel had already asked Tharoor to resign.
Members of the core committee felt that it would not be possible to defend Tharoor in the parliament.
Party floor managers pointed out that the government has a lot of business to conduct in the house, including getting the Finance Bill passed, in the current Budget session and would not like to give the opposition a chance to disrupt the proceedings.
In the afternoon, Tharoor drove in his official car to the Prime Minister’s residence. But when he went to see him again late at night, he chose to travel in his personal car.
Sources said the Prime Minister spoke to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi over the phone before accepting Tharoor’s resignation. No one will replace him in the ministry for now, they added.
Tharoor, who was chosen by Sonia Gandhi to represent the Congress party from the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, had been a newsmaker since his inception into the council of ministers.
His stay in five star hotels and the controversies kicked by his constant twitter comments had been resolved at the party level. But luck did not favour Tharoor when his name came up in the IPL fiasco. Tharoor is alleged to have used his office to secure free equity in Kochi franchisee for his close associate Sunanda Pushkar.
He has, however, denied any wrongdoing.
Sunday also did not bring any good news for Sunanda. Earlier in the day, she quit Rendezvous Sports World, a stakeholder in IPL Kochi, and decided to return her free equity worth Rs 70 crore to the franchise. The move was seen as a last ditch attempt to save Tharoor.
But by late night it was evident that it did not work out as Tharoor and Pushkar had planned or hoped for.
