Tharoor�s fate uncertain; Sonia meets PM

They were joined later by other members of the Congress Core Group including senior party leaders Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony, P Chidambaram and Political Secretary to Congress president Ahmad Patel.

This is the first meeting between Gandhi and Singh after the controversy erupted over the Kochi IPL ownership issue involving Tharoor.

On a day of fast paced developments, Tharoor met the Prime Minister for about 45 minutes during which is he is understood to have explained his position to Singh in the wake of allegations that he helped his friend Sunanda to acquire a sweat equity in the Kochi IPL franchise.

There was no official word on what transpired at the meeting either from the Prime Minister�s Office or from Tharoor�s side.

There were conflicting reports one of which said Tharoor was unwilling to step down on the ground that he has not done anything wrong while another said he was willing to quit if the party and the government found him to be an embarrassment.

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.

The BJP argued that Pushkar�s action on Sunday was an admission of guilt.

�The surrounding suspicious circumstances outline that he (Tharoor) abused his authority for undue enrichment for his friend (Pushkar),� BJP leader and spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

Prasad alleged that Pushkar was a front for Tharoor in the IPL deal. �He (Tharoor) is the beneficiary, and that is why in haste all these laws were violated and sweat equity was issued (to her).�

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi ignited the controversy a week ago when he revealed the ownership pattern of Kochi IPL, stating that Pushkar, who is based in Dubai, owned free equity in Rendezvous Sports World, a member of the consortium that won the Kochi franchise.

Modi accused Tharoor of asking him not to reveal the ownership details � a charge denied by the minister.