Shashi Tharoor quits

Shashi Tharoor tonight resigned as Minister of State for External Affairs after the high-level Congress Core Group decided that he should quit in the wake of controversy over the IPL Kochi franchise, capping a week-long drama that threatened to suck the government and the party into it.

54-year old Tharoor, a newcomer to politics from international diplomacy, was summoned by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to his residence late tonight and asked to tender his resignation.

"Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs has submitted his resignation from the Council of Ministers to the Prime Minister today. The Prime Minister has forwarded his resignation letter to the President with a recommendation that it be accepted," PMO spokesman said tonight.

Tharoor, a writer and a former Under Secretary General in the United Nations, earns the dubious distinction of becoming the first minister in the UPA-II to go under the cloud of corruption charges.
The continuance of Tharoor, a first time MP from Thiruvananthapuram who courted controversies throughout his 11-month stint, became untenable in the government ever since the IPL controversy exploded.

He got into serious problems after IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi revealed that Tharoor's friend Sunanda Pushkar had equity stakes in Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), heading the consortium that owns the Kochi team.

It was later disclosed that Pushkar got sweat equity of the value of Rs 70 crore RSW following which the opposition has been gunning for his removal on the ground that it was misuse of office for pecuniary gain.
That Pushkar today offered to surrender the sweat equity and to quit RSW failed to convince the Congress top brass which met at the residence of the Prime Minister in the evening to finalise its strategy before Parliament resumes tomorrow after the week-end.

Singh, who met Gandhi one-on-one before the Core Group discussions, consulted her again before recommending the resignation to the President.

Tharoor's meeting with the Prime Minister in the night was the second during the day. He met him at noon to explain his side of the story.