Sonia discusses strategy over Tharoor issue

Sensing trouble over the Shashi Tharoor issue, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday discussed the strategy with senior party leaders and also talked about other matters that may come up in Parliament when the Budget session resumes on Thursday. Tharoor rules out resignation|Income tax probe starts on funding of Kochi IPL team

Sensing trouble over the Shashi Tharoor issue, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday discussed the strategy with senior party leaders and also talked about other matters that may come up in Parliament when the Budget session resumes on Thursday.

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Gandhi, who is also the UPA chairperson, held parleys with Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, who is Leader of the Lok Sabha, A K Antony, P Chidambaram and M Veerappa Moily.

"We discussed a large number of issues that may come up in Parliament," Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal said after the hour-long meeting.

The meeting took place at a time when the BJP and the Left parties are demanding the sacking of Tharoor.

Tharoor is battling allegations that a woman romantically linked to him, Sunanda Pushkar, got 19 per cent free equity worth Rs.70 crore in the Kochi IPL team.

In Washington, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised action, if necessary, on the basis of evidence. The Congress party has already distanced itself from the controversy

Ahmad Patel, political secretary to the Congress President, Bansal and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan were also present at the meeting.

The Congress had yesterday made a U-turn on the issue by distancing itself from the controversy, hours after it had dismissed as "absurd" the demand for Tharoor's resignation.

54-year-old Tharoor's latest troubles started with the IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi publicly disclosing the names of some of the owners of a consortium that recently bought the Kochi IPL franchise for a whopping USD 333 million.

Gandhi's strategy session with senior leaders was in the backdrop of opposition moves to corner the government in the Lok Sabha on the price front by bringing a cut motion that may put the strength of the ruling UPA to close test.

A cut motion puts to test the strength of the government in the Lok Sabha. If the motion is adopted, it amounts to defeat of the government on a money matter.

Government will also face the Opposition onslaught on the Dantewada massacre by Maoists.