Shashi Tharoor, who quit from the union council of ministers over the IPL row, today insisted that he had done nothing "unethical or illegal" and said he has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to probe the charges made against him.

Making a statement in the Lok Sabha, he said, "I have done nothing improper, unethical and much less illegal .... I have requested the Prime Minister to investigate throughly the charges against me.

"It is important to me that my name is cleared" as he had lived a life of probity throughout his career abroad, Tharoor said in the statement explaining the background of his resignation.

Noting that he had no desire to be an embarrassment to the government, he said his resignation would strengthen the hands of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues to go deeper into the relevant issues

He said it was a privilege to have served the government and the Congress party under the leadership of Singh and UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

PM should give reasons for accepting Tharoor's resignation: BJP

PTI reports: Maintaining that the Shashi Tharoor episode was far from over, BJP today said it would "compel" the Prime Minister to explain the reasons for accepting his resignation as a Union Minister and also reveal the contents of the inquiry which led to the decision.

"Shashi Tharoor has already made a statement in the Lok Sabha. We will see whether he comes up with an explanation today. If something comes out of his explanation, we will compel the Prime Minister to explain the reasons under which his resignation was accepted," BJP deputy leader in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia told reporters.

He was asked whether BJP would allow Tharoor to speak in the House today if he comes up with an explanation.

The BJP took the decision to continue to rake up the issue of resignation of Tharoor from the Union Council of Ministers at its parliamentary party meeting this morning.

He said the party would also seek details of inquiry which led the Government to accept his resignation. "We would also like to know the contents of inquiry which made the Government accept his resignation," said Ahluwalia.

According to Ahluwalia, Chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party L K Advani "expressed satisfaction" at the performance of MPs during the second half of the Budget session which began last week.

"We believe that our first victory was to force the Government into accepting a discussion on Dantewada incident.

Earlier, it was avoiding a discussion but later they succumbed to opposition's pressure," Ahluwalia said, adding that the UPA's first defeat was the resignation of Tharoor.

He said the BJP would like to take other Opposition parties along when it moves a cut motion against price rise.

Referring to the party's 'maharally' tomorrow against price rise, he said after customary speeches at Ramlila ground, the protestors would proceed to gherao Parliament House. "We expect a large number of people to attend," he said.