New Delhi, April 18: Shashi Tharoor was tonight forced to resign as Minister of State for External Affairs in the wake of a raging controversy over IPL Kochi team, ending a week-long political drama that threatened to sully the image of the government and the Congress.
Meanwhile, President Pratibha Patil tonight accepted the resignation of Shashi Tharoor from the Council of Ministers on the recommendation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The resignation of Tharoor was sent to the President in Pune where she is on an official visit.
His resignation came on a day of hectic activities when the Congress Core Group headed by Sonia Gandhi met at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sealed his fate.
Tharoor becomes the first minister in UPA-II to go out on corruption charges in the wake of allegations that he misused office to get Rs 70 crore worth sweat equity for his friend Sunanda Pushkar from IPL Kochi team owners.
�Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs has submitted his resignation from the Council of Ministers to the Prime Minister today. The Prime Minister has forwarded his resignation letter to the President with a recommendation that it be accepted,� PMO spokesman Harish Khare said after the 50-minute meeting.
Indications that the 54-year-old former UN diplomat was on his way out came when he went to the Prime Minister�s residence late at night, for the second time in the day, in a vehicle without beacon light.
Tharoor, a newcomer to politics, was summoned by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to his residence and asked to tender his resignation.
The continuance of Tharoor, a first-time MP from Thiruvananthapuram, in the government became untenable ever since the IPL controversy exploded a week back.
He found himself isolated in Congress besides coming under sharp attack from the Opposition, which gunned for his head.
He got into serious problems after IPL commissioner Lalit Modi revealed that Tharoor�s friend Sunanda Pushkar had equity stakes in Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), heading the consortium that owns the Kochi team.
It was later disclosed that Pushkar got sweat equity of the value of Rs 70 crore following which the Opposition has been gunning for his removal on the ground that it was misuse of office for pecuniary gain.
That Pushkar today offered to surrender the sweat equity and to quit RSW failed to convince the Congress top brass which met at the residence of the Prime Minister in the evening to finalise its strategy before Parliament resumes tomorrow after the week-end.
Singh, who met Gandhi one-on-one before the core group discussions, consulted her again before recommending the resignation to the President.
Tharoor�s meeting with the Prime Minister in the night was the second during the day. He met him at noon to explain his side of the story.
First Gandhi met Singh one-on-one before the core group discussions. Tharoor, whose removal has been demanded by the Opposition on grounds of corruption, had met Singh at noon to give his side of the story.
The decision came a day after the Prime Minister returned from his eight-day visit to the US and Brazil where he had said that he would take necessary action after getting all facts of the controversy.
Tharoor made an attempt to clear his name by denying the allegations that he had any role in getting equity stakes for Pushkar. He also made a statement in Parliament but the Opposition would have none of it.
That the Congress also was not convinced with his explanation finally forced his exit. In the last two days, Tharoor had met Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony separately in a bid to convince them about his innocence.
The Congress leaders are understood to have given their views at the core group meeting that sealed his fate in the ministry.
Party sources said Gandhi was unhappy over the entire development and leaders felt that Pushkar�s offer to return the sweat equity amounted to admission of guilt.
The core group is also believed to have discussed the damage wrought by the controversy to the government and the party and that a decision should be taken in a way the party could face Parliament.
Parliament was paralysed on Friday with the Opposition demanding his resignation. It had also given enough hints that it would continue to rock Parliament on the issue if Tharoor was not not sacked. � PTI