Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) The Congress Tuesday stayed clear of the Indian Premier League (IPL) row involving Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor even as his boss S.M. Krishna met party president Sonia Gandhi, apparently over the controversy.
As the row appeared to be snowballing into a major controversy with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding Tharoor be sacked and causing embarrassment for the ruling Congress, Krishna met Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence here around 4 p.m.

Krishna drove past waiting mediapersons outside Gandhi’s house and refused to answer any question. Nobody in the party confirmed what transpired during the brief meeting which lasted less than half-an-hour.

Congress member of parliament Rajeev Shukla, who is also vice president of the Indian cricket board, also met Gandhi.

Shukla denied that he talked to the Congress president about the IPL controversy involving Tharoor. “This issue was not discussed,” Shukla told reporters.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the party won’t comment on the business of cricket.

“It is for the person concerned to clarify it if he feels like. It is not our business to comment on the business of cricket,” Tewari said.

Tharoor landed in a fresh controversy when IPL commissioner Lalit Modi accused the minister of stopping him from revealing the names of the owners of Kerala team which he helped set up.

Tharoor was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram.

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

Tharoor 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.