IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi disclosed the names of the free equity holders in the little-known RSW, which coughed up approximately Rs 1533 crore to bag the Kochi franchise, a move that put Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor in a spot of bother, as Sunanda Pushkar, the lady he is reportedly planning to marry, figures in the list.
Sources close to the 54-year old Tharoor declined to comment on the reports, urging the media to respect his privacy. "He will announce whatever, when he has something to announce," the sources said. Media reports said Tharoor proposed to marry Sunanda, a girl from a Kashmiri family. Trained as a beautician, Sunanda runs a spa and has lived in Dubai.
The vexed boundary dispute will not affect the Sino-Indian ties, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said on Saturday.
India has no role in insurgency in Pakistan's Balochistan province and unlike 'certain other countries' it does not follow the policy of destabilising its neighbours, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday that he had asked Saudi Arabia to use its "good offices" to persuade Pakistan to desist from the path of terror.
Shortly after the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution asking the non-Non Proliferation Treaty countries to sign the NPT, India on Thursday ruled out signing the agreement saying, "It cannot support a discriminatory" pact.
After creating a controversy by his 'cattle class' remark, Union Minister Shashi Tharoor has now complained about his workload while tweeting about 'ridiculously full' engagements.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday landed in a fresh controversy for reportedly dubbing travel by economy class as "cattle class", a remark which has been strongly disapproved by the Congress.
A day after whistle blower WikiLeaks made public secret American diplomatic communications, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur on Monday said it is a "very sensitive" issue and the government would like to "wait and work this out".
Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor is hoping that the Kochi IPL team will be able to compete in the fourth edition, following the BCCI's decision to postpone a final decision on its fate to December 5.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, a former United Nations under-secretary general, made an unscheduled visit to quake-hit Haiti over the weekend, meeting with the survivors of the calamity, the Indian peacekeepers as well as the Caribbean nation's President, Rene Garcia Preval at his makeshift home.
'We are very grateful that the US takes the trouble to keep us informed and to consult with us as this situation is being managed by them,' Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor tells rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa.
The NCW will be taking forward complaints of sexual harassment at workplace received on the mail so that appropriate action may be taken, as per law, it added.
Senior Indian Foreign Service officials Sharat Sabharwal and Meera Shankar will be the next envoys to Pakistan and the United States respectively. Sabharwal, Special Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, will succeed High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal, who reaches superannuation on February 28. Shankar, India's Ambassador to Germany, will succeed Ronen Sen in Washington.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived in New Delhi on Sunday night on her maiden visit, which India sees as "a path-breaking and historic opportunity" to forge a "new and forward-looking" relationship amid hopes that its security concerns would be addressed.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor was back on Twitter on Thursday, describing as "excellent" his meeting with senior minister S M Krishna, who had publicly ticked him off for questioning the new visa rules on the social networking site.
A day after he was publicly chided by his senior minister S M Krishna, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said on Monday that he has missed "brouhaha" on the issue but refused to add anything to his earlier comments.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday described Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's tweet on new visa rules as 'callous' and said the government should clarify its position on the issue instead of "speaking in different voices". "Tharoor has made a callous remark (on 26/11 killers not needing visas). How can a person in his position make such statements even in jest," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
The tourism ministry on Monday insisted that the new visa rules would not affect inflow of visitors and dismissed as a 'joke' the apprehension of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor that India would become a less welcoming destination.
She urged people not to mock the women who are speaking out against the harassment meted out to them.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Saturday defended India's decision to vote against Iran on the International Atomic Energy Agency resolution, claiming that it had been taken keeping in mind the fact that the Islamic nation was a signatory of the NPT. He was responding to a question on whether India had toed America's line over Iran's nuclear programme.
Union Minister of state for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Thursday dismissed as "unfounded and misleading" the charges by Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan who had accused him of using public platforms to deride the Left Democratic Front government in the state.
The government, on Wednesday, said cooperation from Pakistan was lacking in bringing the perpetrators of the strikes to justice. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs, said, "Terrorism is a principal preoccupation in most of our international contacts. We seek to ensure that all countries show us support in the actions we need to undertake."
According to an official in the finance ministry, Pushkar, if an employee of Rendezvous, would have to pay 33 per cent perquisite tax. Otherwise, she is liable to pay gift tax under section 56 of the Income Tax Act, since the shares were given to her without taking any consideration (compensation). "The value of shares will be determined by a merchant banker if it is a perquisite tax," the official said.
Kenney Jacob, an online supporter, has been a very active campaigner and feels that Shashi Tharoor is 'nothing but a victim.' He spoke to rediff.co's Vicky Nanjappa about the page, and how Tharoor is trending online today:
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late on Sunday night, the second time in a day, amidst speculation that he may resign.
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi on Sunday exuded confidence of resolving the controversy over ownership of Kochi franchise saying he had no personal issue either with the team owners or Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.
Sunanda Pushkar, the woman at the centre of a ownership controversy surrounding the Kochi IPL franchise, is considering filing for damages and has hired a Dubai-based lawyer for the purpose.
Beleaguered Minister for State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday amidst indications that he may get a reprieve at least, for the time being.
Sunanda Pushkar on Wednesday strongly denied media reports that she is acting as a proxy for Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor in the Kochi IPL franchise. She also came out strongly in support of Tharoor, who has come under fire from several quarters, following his spat with IPL commissioner Lalit Modi over the Kochi team.
Speaking on the IPL controversy involving Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said that he had to ascertain all the facts after he returned to India on April 17, before taking any action in the matter.When he was asked if Tharoor would be sacked over the Kochi IPL team controversy, the PM said, "I have heard about these things. I don't have all the facts before me and when I go back, I will get all the facts."
The party leadership has been left red-faced following the ugly war of words between Tharoor and the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party demanding that the minister be sacked on charges of corruption and that a CBI probe be constituted into the entire IPL goings-on.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday hit back at IPL commissioner Lalit Modi alleging he had made attempts to pressure the winning consortium to abandon their bid for the Kerala outfit.
The Indian Premier League's new franchise Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) has threatened to sue IPL commissioner Lalit Modi for breaking the confidentiality terms.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor himself may not be a stakeholder but the lady he is reportedly planning to marry is part of the consortium which owns the Kochi franchise of the Indian Premier League, revealed IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
Refusing to join issue with China over Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India on Tuesday expressed hope that Chinese 'rhetoric' will stop after the Tibetan leader's trip comes to an end. Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor also rejected as 'silly' -- the reminder about 1962 war by an anonymous Chinese scholar in a newspaper article there -- and underlined that India has come a long way since then.
India does not wish to destabilise Pakistan in any manner and wants to maintain good relations with that country, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said in Palakkad on Thursday.
India supports American efforts in Pakistan, but is concerned about the diversion of United States' aid and military equipment by Islamabad against it.
India on Tuesday said Pakistan should do more in containing militancy as well as dismantling terror infrastructure in that country. "Frankly we have not seen enough action on either, though we acknowledge that the civilian government in Islamabad had apprehended seven persons in connection with the Mumbai terror attacks," Shashi Tharoor, minister of state for external affairs, said in New York.
India has charged Pakistan of using 'jihadi' elements to "destabilise" it and Afghanistan and expressed willingness to normalise relations with Islamabad if it takes one step towards peace. "It (Pakistan) has been one of actually using jihadi militants as an instrument of destabilisation in both Afghanistan and India. And we think that's wrong," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an interview.