By IANS,
New Delhi : The Congress has finally distanced itself from Shashi Tharoor, who resigned Sunday as minister of state for external affairs, to prevent the opposition from taking the moral high ground in the Indian Premier League (IPL) controversy.
While one reason for the party’s hesitancy to defend Tharoor was the controversies that have dogged him over some of his tweets and indiscreet remarks, the Congress was not sure of the facts surrounding the IPL Kochi franchise — to which the minister was being linked.
Eventually, the former UN official submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the Congress leadership decided that he had lost the right to be in the council of ministers.
The opposition alleged that Dubai-based Sunanda Pushkar, who had got sweat equity in a company that was part of a consortium that won the Kochi bid, was fronting for Tharoor — a charge both denied.
But with all shades of opposition parties ganging up against Tharoor and even the high-profile IPL cricket championship, Tharoor decided to exit from the government, soon after Pushkar also gave up her equity in Rendezvous Sports World.
Till then, sections of the Congress somehow thought that Tharoor might be able to extricate himself out of the sticky situation created by allegations of corruption in the allocation of sweat equity to his friend.
The Congress allowed Tharoor, a first time MP, to mount an individual defence. However, vocal opposition MPs did not let Tharoor speak in the house and asked that he be booted out.
“The charges were against an individual. They did not concern any policy matter. In such a case, it is for the individual to admit, clarify or refute the charges,” Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed told IANS.
The Congress had maintained after the controversy erupted that it was waiting for full facts to emerge and for Manmohan Singh to returns to New Delhi — to study the facts surrounding Tharoor.
Congress leaders said Tharoor had faltered in his own defence because doubts about the financial status of businessperson Pushkar were not dealt by him satisfactorily.
Some party leaders said that though Tharoor was honest about his friendship with Pushkar, it did not help him politically. Amid reports that they planned to get married, allegations about commonality of interests were difficult to fend off.
There were also questions of legality over allocation of sweat equity to Pushkar.
Congress leaders maintained that Tharoor had not helped his case by his earlier controversial remarks and tweets — on various topics.
“Those who could have sprung up in his defence did not feel enthused to do so,” said a party leader.
Tharoor also faced criticism in party circles over his remarks about “cattle class” passengers, on the government’s visa policy and a lecture that had critical references to Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru’s foreign policy approach.