Mukherjee was reflecting the views of a majority of Congress leaders who have little sympathy for the new-age politician with a tendency for landing the party in trouble.
“If I were you, I would quit,’’ finance minister and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee is reported to have told Shashi Tharoor when they met earlier this week.
Mukherjee was reflecting the views of a majority of Congress leaders who have little sympathy for the new-age politician with a tendency for landing the party in trouble.
With his fate hanging by a thread, Shashi Tharoor spent a tense Sunday ensconced in his official bungalow at Lodhi Road.
He came out of it just once to drive to 7 Race Course Road, the official residence of prime minister Manmohan Singh. They had a 45-minute close-door meeting, where he pleaded not guilty.
Tharoor spent an excruciating Sunday, waiting for the prime minister and his senior colleagues to take a decision on his fate.
He spent time switching television channels, talking to those closest to him and waiting for the final verdict.
Tharoor, who usually loves chatting to the media, was in no mood to do so. A huge media contingent with OB vans had surrounded his home, though no one was allowed to enter.
The minister neither smiled nor waved to the media teams as he drove out of his residence to meet the prime minister. There was no smile when he drove out of the PM’s residence.
Last week in parliament, Tharoor was seen flashing smiles while trying to defend his position. On Sunday, he looked grim and drawn.
The prime minister, the man responsible for bringing him into government, had no words of assurance for Tharoor.
The minister was told that a decision would be taken only after the PM consulted senior cabinet colleagues — finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, defence minister AK Antony, home minister P Chidambaram, party president Sonia Gandhi and her political secretary Ahmed Patel.
Soon after meeting Mukherjee las week, Tharoor knew that the party was not backing him. His hopes rested on the prime minister.
Despite his friends spreading the word that he is close to Sonia Gandhi, people in the know do not believe him.
“Find out how many times he goes to 10 Janpath,” a senior minister’s aide said. There is no special bond that ties Tharoor to Sonia and Rahul. Much of it is mere speculation.
Before Tharoor met the prime minister, NDTV flashed the news that his friend Sunanda Pushkar was giving up her stakes in the Kochi IPL team.
But the move backfired as the BJP and the Left saw this as an admission of guilt.
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