Tharoor declared out

Tharoor had earlier offered to resign in the morning,when he had been summoned by the PM to explain his alleged role in the IPL Kochi controversy. Before the Core Group meeting in the evening,the PM and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had a one-on-one discussion over the explanation offered by the junior minister.

When the Core Group,comprising Singh,Sonia,her political secretary Ahmed Patel,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee,Home Minister P Chidambaram and Defence Minister A K Antony met in the evening,there was unanimity about the need to sack Tharoor to prevent any further embarrassment to the government.

Shortly after the meeting,Tharoor called on the PM to submit his resignation letter,in which he stated that he was resigning to save any embarrassment to the government and the party.

The PM and Sonia discussed the issue once again before the PM accepted his resignation. Finally,the announcement was made by the PMO spokesperson in the night: Shashi Tharoor,Minister of State for External Affairs,has submitted his resignation from the Council of Ministers to the Prime Minister.

The PM is expected to make a statement in Parliament on the matter tomorrow.

The Core Group was understood to have concluded that Tharoors argument that he had nothing to do Pushkar getting free equity in Rendezvous Sports World Ltd was untenable. Mukherjee and Antony,who had had at least three rounds of meeting with Tharoor,were said to have presented their findings about his interest in the IPL Kochi franchise.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna,who is not part of the Congress Core Group,talked to the PM over the phone. Krishna,it is learnt,told him that while he didnt have the facts emerging out of the IT Departments findings,Tharoors involvement in the IPL controversy had caused an embarrassment to the party.

Top decision makers of the party were said to have been of the view that the partys and the governments image could not be risked to defend an individuals interest. Besides,the Opposition parties,which already planned to bring cut motions on the Finance Bill,were unrelenting in their demand for the ministers sacking and were set to use Tharoors case to further embarrass the government in the remaining part of the Budget session.

The government was also not inclined to antagonise the opposition further given that it needs their support for contentious legislations like the Womens Reservation Bill and Civil Nuclear Liability Bill.

Shortly after the controversy broke out,Tharoor had sought to blame Narendra Modi,Lalit Modi and some NCP ministers at the Centre for it. Initially,the Congress leadership had decided not to yield to the Oppositions pressure tactics and back Tharoor through the current political storm before easing him out at an appropriate time.

However,ruling party leaders later concluded that Tharoor was deeply involved in the IPL Kochi franchise and could not be defended. His explanations given to Sonia and other senior leaders failed to convince them. Therefore,even though Tharoor was allowed to give his personal explanation in the Lok Sabha,the leadership had already taken a view about the matter and was only waiting for the PM to take a final call.

Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said the government has taken the correct moral stand. The Congress has nothing to do with the IPL. It was an issue of an individual minister. The party has acted with utmost restraint. It went through a very decent process by which it collected facts and a final view was taken by the Prime Minister, she said.