Left, BJP ask Tharoor to resign

The Left and the BJP in Kerala Tuesday asked Congress MP Shashi Tharoor to resign from the Lok Sabha after Delhi Police said that his wife Sunanda Pushkar was poisoned to death.

Former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the Congress should publicly apologise for "protecting" Tharoor when he was a minister in the Congress-led central government.

"Now with a murder case registered, Tharoor should resign and make himself available for the probe," the Communist Party of India-Marxist leader said in a statement.

State Bharatiya Janata Party president V. Muraleedharan asked Tharoor to resign from the Lok Sabha.

"The Congress should apologise to the people for fielding him (in the Lok Sabha polls)," said Muraleedharan.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy declined to comment on the case.

Tharoor retained the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat with his margin of victory dropping from close to a lakh in 2009 to around 15,000 votes.

BJP veteran O. Rajagopal edged out the Left candidate to the third place.

Delhi Police chief B.S. Bassi said Tuesday that they had registered a murder case against "unknown persons" after the final medical report said Pushkar was poisoned and died an unnatural death.