President Pratibha Patil accepted the resignation of minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor from the Council of Ministers on Sunday night on the recommendation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

According to Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson, "The President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister has accepted the resignation of Shashi Tharoor, MoS in MEA from the council of ministers with immediate effect."

The resignation of Tharoor was sent to the President in Pune where she is on an official visit.

Earlier report:

Minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late tonight, the second time in a day, amidst speculation that he may resign. He was closetted with the Prime Minister for about one hour. He left the PM's residence around 10.15 pm. There was no announcement about the impending resignation, but it is learnt that Tharoor did hand in his resignation.

Tharoor drove into the Race Course residence of the Prime Minister moments after Singh held a meeting of the Congress Core group including Sonia Gandhi.

The meeting discussed continuance of the minister in the wake of controversy over allotment of sweat equity of the value of Rs 70 crore to his friend Sunanda Pushkar by the IPL Kochi franchise.

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.

There was no no official word on all these meetings.

Tharoor first met the Prime Minister in the afternoon to explain his position on the Kochi franchisee issue hours before the Congress Core Group met at around 7 pm on Sunday. The core committee meeting lasted a full two hours, following which Tharoor drove to the 7 RCR for a second time.

Tharoor drove to the PM House in his personal Maruti Esteem car, a big hint that the end was near for his ministerial stint.

Earlier report:

Tharoor is understood to have explained his position to the Prime Minister in the wake of allegations that he helped his friend Sunanda Pushkar acquire a sweat equity in the Kochi IPL franchise. The Congress led government had been waiting for the PM to be apprised of the IPL tangle after his return from his two-nation tour.

Minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor seems to be running against time so far his survival in the government is concerned.

Though neither Congress president Sonia Gandhi nor Prime minister Manmohan Singh has given any indication of action against Tharoor so far, those monitoring the developments in the government and the Congress believe that the domestic political compulsions are making it increasingly untenable for the government to ignore the controversy over the minister's role in an IPL franchisee.

The situation gets further complicated as top leaders in the government are being briefed by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) about the source of money in the Kochi IPL franchisee that Tharoor says he has “mentored”. Sleuths are learnt to have prepared a six-page report with crucial inputs from external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Sources point out that the services of the RAW were drafted to unravel the links going abroad and the mystery of dubious sources of money.

With income tax authorities already digging dip into the IPL business, the IB's report is believed to have come as yet another embarrassment for the government as its contents indicate more trouble for Tharoor and his linkages with Sunanda Pushkar. At the same time, the government is also wary of the fact that the opposition ranging from the BJP to the CPI-M has been uncharacteristically united in targeting Tharoor on the issue.

There seems to be unanimity at the top level in the UPA that the opposition has enough ammunition to keep up the pressure on the government should it want to save Tharoor. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and defence minister AK Antony have already confabulated with IB officials and accessed secret report of the other intelligence unit.

However, Tharoor's fate would be finally decided once the prime minister, who returns to Delhi at 3.30 pm today, gets proper briefing by officials and the party leadership. The fact that Tharoor has frequent run-ins with his senior minister SM Krishna is also weighing against him in the present scenario.


Five points before PM to take a final call on Tharoor


Finance minister Pranab Mukerjee will meet the PM and explain the inputs from the government and share reports of IB and other agencies. The PM will then meet Sonia Gandhi. He is likely to focus on these five major points before taking a call on Tharoor:

(1) Political fallout in parliament on Monday – CPI-M is making this a major issue in Kerala that is bound to go against the Congress in the run-up to the assembly elections.

(2) The opposition unity against Tharoor is getting further cemented and most important is that in long term UPA ally and NCP leader Sharad Pawar continues to support Lalit Modi.

(3) Negative reports on Sunandna Pushkar from IB, RAW and DRI.

(4) Krishna has been opposed to Tharoor's continuance for not obeying him. Foreign office and senior diplomats have also been rallying behind the senior minister.

(5) The Congress has to consider the ensuing Kerala panchayat elections.