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| Jet-lagged PM tries to deflect Kochi IPL googly | | |
ABID SHAH
NEW DELHI, APR 17: Congress has decided to keep the fate of Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor in limbo for some more time. Though the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has returned here from his visit to US and Brazil, he is yet to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and there is no certainty regarding the time of the meeting between them.
Sources say that this could well take place sometime tomorrow where among other things the two top leaders of the ruling Congress Party could try to sort out the controversy created by Tharoor’s support for Kochi IPL cricket team’s franchise through his close friend Sunanda Pushkar who was given 19 percent stake worth Rs 70 crores out of the free stocks by Rendezvous Sports World Limited that led the bid on behalf of a consortium to get franchise for the Kochi T-20 team.
As stakes have been heightening amid the Kochi team controversy, Congress leaders have been trying to buy time to weigh all related aspects, including public perception of the controversy in Kerala which is Tharoor’s home State and where Assembly polls have to take place next year.
As reported by Early Times in its Friday’s edition this may not necessarily save Tharoor from being made to resign by the Congress high command, but the party may well like to turn him into a martyr for the sake of Kerala’s cause, courtesy an unrelenting pressure from the Opposition, mainly the BJP and also Left Front that now rules Kerala.
Agencies report that before landing at Delhi Airport, Prime Minister spoke to reporters about Tharoor’s IPL controversy on board the aircraft, saying that “in politics there are ups and downs” and yet warned against “jumping to a conclusion”. This is how the top Congress leaders are keeping everybody guessing regarding the fate of Tharoor who has earlier said that he would not resign from the Union Council of Ministers since this would amount to “giving up despite not doing any wrong, nor taking a single rupee”.
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