Tharoor steps down, PM sends resignation to president
By IANSSunday, April 18, 2010
NEW DELHI - Embattled Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor resigned Sunday night, informed sources said here. A formal announcement was still awaited and was likely to be made Monday morning, they added.
According to the sources, Tharoor submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a nearly half-hour meeting — the second meeting between the two — at the Prime Minister’s House, 7, Race Course Road, late Sunday night.
The prime minister also spoke with Congress president Sonia Gandhi after Tharoor submitted his resignation and is believed to have forwarded it to President Pratibha Patil.
The resignation came after a weeklong drama over an ugly IPL row as his friend Sunanda Pushkar, who is believed to have received a sweat equity worth Rs.70 crore in the deal, gave up her controversial stake in the IPL Kochi franchise earlier Sunday.
The Congress party also held a crucial meeting of its core committee, attended by senior union ministers, over the row at the centre of which was Tharoor and his “mentoring” the Kochi IPL franchise.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had been demanding the removal of Tharoor, welcomed the move. “This is the victory of truth,” BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, adding he heard about the development through the media only.
