Congress Core group meets to discuss Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi, April 18 (ANI): The Congress core group is holding a meet at the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence at 7, Race Course Road here in the capital to take a decision on Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor over his alleged involvement in Kochi IPL team.

The meet started at 7.00 p.m.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram, Defense Minister A.K.Antony, and Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel are present at the Prime Minister's residence.

The Prime Minister returned from his eight-day U.S.-Brazil tour on Saturday.

On Sunday, unconfirmed reports stated that during his meeting with the Prime Minister at his official residence in the morning, Tharoor had offered to resign from his Cabinet post over the Kochi IPL fiasco.

Sources then said Tharoor had left it to Dr. Singh to take a final call on the matter.

They said that Tharoor might step down if the Congress leadership feels that this is the best course to follow.

Tharoor reportedly had a forty-five minute long meeting with Dr Singh, where he put forward his views on Sunday morning.

He was seen coming out of the Prime Minister's residence and entering his car. The car made a hasty exit from the compound for his residence. He refused to interact with the media.

Meanwhile, his close companion, Sunanda Pushkar, has reportedly sold off her sweat equity in the Kochi IPL franchise, worth at least Rs.70 crore, to avoid further scrutiny and unnecessary publicity.

The BJP-led Opposition in the Parliament has already upped its ante over the government over the Tharoor-Kochi IPL franchise controversy and even blamed the government of saving its minister. (ANI)