‘Hurt’ Tharoor ready for thorough probe
Hit wicket: Former minister says ‘it is important to me that my name is cleared’
Former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday denied doing anything ''improper or unethical, let alone illegal,'' in the Kochi-IPL deal and hoped that his ''departure'' would allow the government to focus on the ''great challenges faced by the country.''
Making a statement in the Lok Sabha for the first time since his resignation from the Union council of ministers, Tharoor said he had asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to order an inquiry into the allegations against him in connection with the Kochi IPL franchise.
“I have done nothing improper, unethical and much less illegal. I have requested the prime minister to investigate thoroughly the charges against me,” he said.
Stating that he has a long record of public service, “unblemished by the slightest taint of financial irregularity,” Tharoor said he is “deeply wounded by the fanciful and malicious charges that have been made against me. “It is important to me that my name is cleared, which has been besmirched.”
Tharoor said he has lived a life of probity throughout his career abroad.
Wearing a tricolour shawl, the former minister deftly played his Malayali card by quoting Malayalam poet Vallathol Narayana Menon, “Madam Speaker, my heart swells with pride when I hear India, and my blood throbs in my vein, when I hear Kerala.”
Tharoor said he was proud to represent the capital of Kerala, “a state that in so many ways is a trail blazer for India’s progress, though in other respects it seems to have been left behind in the race for 21st century development.”
Tharoor said it was a privilege to have served the government and the Congress party under the leadership of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.
In his two-page statement, Tharoor did not make any mention of the IPL or its chief Lalit Modi, who indirectly forced his exit from the council of ministers. “Today marks a new beginning for me and I am heartened by the love, friendship and loyalty I have received from countless numbers of my well-wishers in Thiruvananthapuram, across my home state of Kerala and throughout our great country,” he said in the concluding paragraph.
