Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 14 (IANS) The political storm triggered by Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s alleged meddling in the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise business is likely to dominate parliament proceedings that resume Thursday, opposition party leaders said.
Already up in arms over the price rise and internal security in the wake of the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh that left of 76 security personnel dead, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left parties are set to corner the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over the IPL controversial deal involving Tharoor and his friend Sunanda Pushkar.

As the controversy erupted over the ownership of the IPL Kochi franchise, in which Pushkar has an equity worth Rs.70 crore, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack him because it was a “copybook case of corruption” against the minister for “abusing” his office to help his associate secure the holding.

In his terse remarks against Tharoor and the Congress, Prasad said from “Twitter to corruption is the migration of this L’enfant terrible of the Congress”.

The Left parties joined the campaign against Tharoor Wednesday and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) demanded he must step down till his name “is cleared of any unethical or irregular behaviour.”

“It now transpires that a person associated with him has got free equity worth Rs.70 crore. The IPL is not just a sporting event but is a big business enterprise in which big money is involved. It is highly inappropriate for a minister in the government to be involved in such murky dealings,” the CPI-M politburo said in a statement.

Communist Party of India deputy general secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy also urged the prime minister to seek Tharoor’s resignation.

Reddy, who is in Hyderabad, told IANS by phone: “I feel that he (Tharoor) should step down. This is a serious allegation of misuse of power. He is always in the controversy. The prime minister should ask him to quit.”

Asked whether the party will raise the issue in parliament, when the second part of the budget session resumes, Reddy said: “The party MPs will discuss the issue and certainly it will be raised in parliament.”

The Congress has so far stayed clear of the row saying Tharoor and the others involved in the process should explain.

“The party has nothing to do with this. It is an individual matter,” said Congress media department head Janardan Dwivedi.

“I am not going to pass any judgement. Let him explain his position and let others explain what are the norms and which agencies were involved.”

The IPL is the latest row surrounding Twitter Tharoor, who had previously annoyed party higher ups with his tweets triggering controversies.

Tharoor earlier received brickbats for his Twitter comments on India’s strict tourist visa rules and the possible role Saudi Arabia could play in India-Pakistan relations.