By IANS,
New Delhi : Unimpressed by Shashi Tharoor’s emotional defence in parliament on the IPL row, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday said his love for Kerala doesn’t “absolve” the former minister of wrongdoing.
“His love for Kerala, that was the highlight of his speech, doesn’t absolve him of corruption charges,” BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde told IANS.
Tharoor, forced to quit over his alleged links to the controversial Kochi Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, spoke for the first time after he quit as minister of state for external affairs. He said his conscience was clear and he had done nothing wrong.
“I have done nothing improper or unethical, let alone illegal… I have requested the prime minister to have these charges against me thoroughly investigated,” Tharoor, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram, told the Lok Sabha.
However, the BJP, which has charged Tharoor with impropriety and corruption, said there was nothing substantive in his speech to absolve him of “misusing his office for his woman friend”.
“He said nothing in his speech. He said he has done nothing wrong, but can he justify how his friend got the stake worth crores,” Munde added.
Tharoor, 54, was blamed for misusing office in favouring his Dubai-based friend Sunanda Pushkar to secure sweat equity in the IPL Kochi franchise worth Rs.70 crore. Some critics alleged that Pushkar was a front for Tharoor — a charge both have denied.