LD THAROOR 2LST

The Minister had met Congress President Sonia Gandhi two
days back. The party continues to distance itself from the
issue amid a clamour from the opposition ranks for his
removal.
In Dubai, 48-year-old Sunanda made a last ditch attempt
to save Tharoor by voluntarily offering to surrender her free
equity she got from the consortium which bought the IPL Kochi
franchise for Rs.1,533 crore.
"Given the deeply unpleasant publicity surrounding my
involvement, however, I can no longer imagine being able to
find the enthusiasm required to associate myself with any IPL
activity in the foreseeable future," she said in a statement
to Rendezvous Sports, one of the stakeholders in IPL Kochi.
Her lawyer Ashish Mehta said she had taken the
decision yesterday.
Both the BJP and the Left parties made it clear that
Sunanda abandoning her stake will not let Tharoor off the
hook as far as they are concerned.
Stepping up the pressure for Tharoor's resignation,
BJP said ,"the stain of corruption is not washed by the return
of bribe money.
"It is a case of stinking corruption," BJP spokesman
Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters, adding Sunanda giving back
her equity was immaterial.
"It's an admission of guilt" and proves that Sunanda
is Tharoor's "front" and does his bidding, he said.
Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters in
Kolkata, "the Centre should investigate the entire IPL issue
but before that Tharoor should resign. If he does not resign,
he should be sacked."
CPI leader D Raja also said Sunanda surrendering her
equity is an admission of guilt and cannot save Tharoor.
It has become untenable for him to continue as a
minister, he said.
"The Prime Minister should not take much time to
decide on this and the Congress should not drag this issue any
further...Tharoor has to step down," he said. PTI AMI
AHM


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