Published: Thursday, Apr 15, 2010, 18:54 IST | Updated: Friday, Apr 16, 2010, 0:54 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_shashi-tharoor-gets-a-breather-for-now_1371799
Union minister Shashi Tharoor, who’s under fire for his role in the Kochi IPL bid and for allegedly helping his friend Sunanda Pushkar, seems to have survived once again.
On Thursday, he got a dressing down for his conduct from Congress president Sonia Gandhi. She directed him not to speak to the media until he makes his position clear in parliament.
Sonia was reported to be so angry with Tharoor that she had declined to meet him. But she relented only after senior ministers (Pranab Mukherjee and AK Antony) conveyed that he could be a ‘victim’. Despite that, Sonia ticked him off within five minutes of summoning him to her 10 Janpath residence.
Mukherjee and Antony had been asked by the prime minister to inquire into the facts and circumstances of the Tharoor saga and prevent a likely crisis in parliament on Friday.
Both ministers had grilled Tharoor thrice, called for records of the case and even talked to some of the leaders in the opposition to cool tempers.
A cat may have nine lives. But in the Congress, you can’t have this luxury. Tharoor has already exhausted three — staying in a 5-star hotel for months, saying all sorts of things on Twitter, criticising the government’s visa policy and helping his friend get equity.
However, sources in the Congress say the reprieve to Tharoor may only be temporary, since it (using his ministerial position to help a friend) is a fit case under the Prevention of Corruption Act. It has been alleged that he misused his authority to help his friend Sunanda Pushkar get “free equity” valued at Rs70 crore in the Kochi franchise.
Section 13-1 (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act says that a public servant (in this case the minister) is said to commit criminal misconduct if he (i) by corrupt or illegal means, obtains for himself or for any other person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage; or (ii) by abusing his position as a public servant, obtains for himself or for any other person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage; or (iii) while holding office as a public servant, obtains for any person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage without public interest.
Since Tharoor and Sunanda have acknowledged their friendship, the party will examine whether the minister did anything illegal.
But the Congress is aware that Tharoor has a different style of working, which may have landed him in a soup, so it wants to give him a benefit of doubt for now.
Secondly, the Congress wants all its MPs to face the opposition unitedly when the finance bill comes up for passing in parliament. So, this seems to be a temporary truce.
Perhaps, as a counter-strategy to get Tharoor’s detractors off his back, the income tax department landed at the doors of Lalit Modi and the IPL on Thursday.
Clearly, the last word is yet to be written on the saga.
