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.

... contd.