THAROOR 2 LAST

In a statement earlier in the day, Tharoor hit back at
Modi alleging he had made attempts to pressure the winning
consortium to abandon their bid for the Kochi IPL team.
Tharoor also denied that he had told Modi not to ask
details about owners of the consortium led by Rendezvous that
bought the new franchisee.
He trained his guns on the powerful cricket board
official alleging that various attempts were made by Modi and
others to pressure the members of the consortium to abandon
their bid in favour of another city in a different state.
According to reports, Ahmedabad was being mentioned as the
other city.
"I deny Mr Lalit Modi's allegation that I called him
during his meeting with investors in the Kochi consortium in
Bangalore on Saturday night in order to press him not to
question the composition of the consortium," Tharoor said.
"My role in mentoring the consortium included several
conversations with Mr Lalit Modi, who guided us through the
process and presented himself as a trusted friend," he added.
Voicing his displeasure at the turn of events which saw
him pitted against Lalit Modi, Tharoor also tweeted, "I have
had enough."
Stepping into the picture, BJP called Tharoor's role in
Kochi IPL team a blatant case of corruption and demanded that
the prime minister sack Tharoor from the government and order
a CBI probe into the entire nature of transaction involving
Sunanda.
Dubbing it as a "copy book case of corruption", BJP chief
spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said "the prime minister must
sack Tharoor."
"From twitter to corruption is the migration of this
enfant terrible of the Congress party," he said.
As the row escalated, External Affairs Minister S
M Krishna met Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Krishna drove past waiting newsmen without answering
any question from them outside Gandhi's residence. It was not
known as to what figured in the discussion between the
Minister and Gandhi.
Congress MP Rajeev Shukla, who is also Vice President
of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, also had a
meeting with Gandhi. Shukla, however said he did not discuss
the Tharoor issue with the Congress President.
"This issue was not discussed with her," Shukla said
after meeting Gandhi. PTI