Sharma’s son Manu is the prime accused in the case which is undergoing a retrial after he was acquitted earlier this year.

His resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi was accepted as it was later forwarded to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and has now gone to the Governor, said Janardan Dwivedi, the Congress general-secretary in charge of Haryana.

It became increasingly difficult for the party to defend him after a sting operation by the weekly Tehelka telecast on Star News channel showed how witnesses in the Jessica Lall case were allegedly bribed to change their testimonies.

Today, after he had delivered his resignation letter to 10 Janpath, Sharma faxed a message to Dwivedi, saying he had done what the party had asked him to.

The sting operation only hastened what was on the cards for a while. About two months ago, it was suggested to Sharma that he quit his post as it was becoming difficult for the party to defend him. Sources said Sharma’s position in the party had become untenable after Sonia Gandhi wrote to Home Minister Shivraj Patil in March suggesting changes to the law to protect witnesses. She had expressed concern at how cases were falling through because witnesses were turning hostile.

It was, therefore, understood that Sharma would have to go sooner rather than later, and none of his powerful political friends, including childhood buddy Hooda, would be able to save him.

After Sharma had put in his papers today, Hooda said: ‘’He (Sharma) has resigned on moral grounds. The media and the opposition were taking his name in the case. We are a party that maintains high traditions.’’

Sharma took the cue from the chief minister to say he thought it fit to resign after the media and the Opposition dragged his name into the case for political reasons.

“I decided to resign to maintain the high moral values of the party,’’ he said.

There was some palpable relief in the party at the development. ‘’It was the chief minister’s prerogative to induct him into the Cabinet. We did feel bad about it, considering the allegations against his son but were helpless,’’ said a Haryana minister, requesting anonymity.

The minister was articulating a grudge some in state Congress had long held: Sharma’s political clout and his high-level connections. When he became a Union minister, people attributed that to his relationship with former President Shankar Dayal Sharma — Venod Sharma’s younger brother Shyam Sunder is married to the late President’s daughter Jaya Shree.

A former Punjab MLA, Sharma later became Rajya Sabha MP from the same state and was inducted into the Union Cabinet as minister of state for civil supplies. He slipped into political wilderness after model Jessica Lall’s murder in April 1999. But, as matters died down and party top brass relented, Sharma’s political career revived.

In the last elections in Haryana, he was elected MLA from Ambala City and made a minister. He has been a regular visitor to the party headquarters in Delhi, keeping alive his links with AICC functionaries.

There is little doubt that much credit for his return has to go to his wealth. Sharma has businesses spread over Punjab, Haryana and Chhattisgarh and has helped in the party’s fund-raising. But over the last few days, none of that seemed to help.