Forced to step down as Minister of State,External Affairs,Shashi Tharoor made a statement in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday,saying that he had done nothing 'unethical or illegal'. Noting that he had no desire to be an embarrassment to the UPA government,he said his resignation would strengthen the hands of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues to go deeper into the relevant issues. Tharoor said,"I have done nothing improper,unethical and much less illegal .. I have requested the Prime Minister to investigate thoroughly the charges against me. "It is important to me that my name is cleared" as he had lived a life of probity throughout his career abroad,Tharoor said in the statement. He said it was a privilege to have served the government and the Congress party under the leadership of Singh and UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. On Monday,he met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee,also the Leader of the Lok Sabha,and requested that he be allowed to make a statement in the House. Congress sources say he could make a conciliatory statement in a bid to build bridges with the party,crucial for his possible rehabilitation in the future. As per convention,a minister who resigns during a session of Parliament is allowed to make a statement. From what Congress sources say,it were Tharoors SMSes to IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi which played a crucial role in swinging the tide against him as the Congress leadership deliberated over his role in the Kochi IPL row. While Tharoor insisted that his role was only that of a patron and that he had not used his official position to favour any consortium,according to sources,the SMSes indicated that he had used his OSD,Jacob Joseph,to do negotiations on his behalf. One SMS to Modi read J will meet you. When the Congress Core Group met on Sunday evening,all such facts questioning Tharoors claims were learnt to have been discussed. UPA crisis managers couldnt ignore the fact that records of the SMSes,as obtained by intelligence agencies,could also have been preserved by Modi and may be used by Tharoors opponents to nail his lies in future.
