Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor and wife Sunanda Pushkar may have decided to bury their disputes over his alleged relationship with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar but the BJP and the CPI(M) in Kerala want serious follow-up of the matter.
State BJP president V Muraleedharan on Thursday demanded Shashi Tharoor’s resignation as Minister over the matter as his own wife had disclosed that he had connections with an alleged ISI operative in Pakistan. “If there is any truth in what Sunanda Pushkar herself has said, it raises serious security concerns as far as the country is concerned,” Muraleedharan said.
“The allegation on Tharoor’s connections with a Pakistani woman with alleged shady background has come from none other than his wife. That makes the matter all the more serious. He should be immediately sacked from the Union Government,” Muraleedharan told newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
The BJP leader said that there should be a proper probe into the matter and that the acts of Shashi and Sunanda in connection with the IPl should also be investigated. He alleged that the Congress was trying to protect its political interests by sacrificing national interests and it is trying to hush up the present scandal as part of this.
Stating that the CPI(M) did not want to air opinions on the family affairs of Tharoor and Sunanda, its Politbureau member and Deputy Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly Kodiyeri Balakrishnan called for a probe by Intelligence into the affair. He said that people would be concerned about a Union Minister’s alleged relationship with a Pakistani woman.