New Delhi: With Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh set to return from abroad tomorrow, Congress today
indicated `all is not well` still with Shashi Tharoor and that
his fate lies in Singh`s hands.
"The ball is in the Prime Minister`s court", highly
placed party sources said adding that Singh would be having
the relevant information as regards the Kochi IPL ownership
controversy to take a decision in the matter.
The stand of the party is significant as it came hours
after the Minister of State for External Affairs` personal
explanation in the Lok Sabha and opposition parties remaining
unrelenting in their demand for his resignation.
Sidestepping questions whether the Tharoor issue was a
closed chapter and if he was out of the woods, they said the
Congress has already made its position clear by distancing
itself from the controversy involving the Union Minister.
Besides, the sources emphasised that Tharoor`s meeting
with party chief Sonia Gandhi was just to put his side of the
story before her. "Gandhi just gave him a patient hearing,"
the sources said implying that the meeting does not mean the
Minister has got a reprieve.
Ducking questions whether the party was satisfied with
the explanation by Tharoor, they said that with the Income Tax
authorities quizzing IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi in Mumbai and
launching an inquiry into ownership of different teams, the
Prime Minister would be having the facts in the case.
A senior minister who did not want to be quoted said
Tharoor was a "live bomb" for the party.
Meanwhile, BJP today demanded that the Prime Minister
explain to Parliament why the Union Minister has not stepped
down and sought a "structured debate" on the issue.
-PTI
