A big question mark is on whether Shashi Tharoor, who had led the delegation to the US among other countries, will be picked as speaker by the Congress, as the seasoned Lok Sabha member's enthusiastic endorsement of the government's action following the terror attack has soured his ties with his party.
The Kerala unit of the Congress instantly gets a headache when Shashi Tharoor lets loose one of his observations showering flowers on enemy territory. With every such action triggering controversy within a nervous Congress party, some feel it is high time Tharoor showed a degree of solidarity with the ideals of his party, notes Shyam G Menon.
Officials said the government-to-government engagement between the two countries on all other issues remains normal, but conceded rough spots over trade that need ironing out.
A statement issued by the parliamentary affairs ministry earlier on Saturday said the all-party delegations will project India's national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations.
The lawyer said Tharoor made a reference to an article published in the Caravan magazine six years before the statement was made.
Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who is a part of India's diplomatic mission abroad, on Monday said it is 'distressing' that people back home are calculating political allegiances and asked if it is 'so difficult to be patriotic'.
'I've been missing @imVkohli a few times during this series, but never as much as in this Test match.'
Ever since, he has remained Thiruvananthapuram preferred MP, winning four elections on the trot, including the closely fought battle with Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajeev Chandrasekhar in 2024. This could well be his swansong from the capital segment.
Shashi Tharoor on Friday appeared for the third time in two days before the SIT.
On Monday, soon after the election results were out, Ambassador T P Sreenivasan contributed a column to Rediff.com, 'Lessons for Shashi Tharoor from diminished victory', to which the newly re-elected MP from Thiruvananthapuram responds.
'The election has to be fought on perennial issues and not on a tragedy of one moment'
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has criticized the BJP for its allegations that elements in the American "deep state" were behind attempts to destabilize India, saying this "attack-dog" behavior is an embarrassment to India. Tharoor's comments come after the US rejected the BJP's allegations, describing them as "disappointing" and asserting that the US government is a champion of media freedom. The BJP had alleged that the US deep state colluded with the media portal OCCRP and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to "damage" India's image.
The opposition party's attack came after Shashi Tharoor, not part of the four leaders nominated by the Congress, was named as the head of a delegation to key partner countries to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism following Operation Sindoor.
The Labour Party in the UK secured 412 seats in the 650-member House of Commons in the general elections.
Nomination forms for the post of Congress president poll have been collected by Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and All India Congress Committee (AICC) treasurer Pawan Bansal, but Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has not done so yet, the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said on Tuesday.
The BJP has criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his explanation of decentralisation using a car and motorcycle engine analogy at a university in Colombia.
The lawmakers also hailed the strong strategic partnership between India and the US during a meeting with an all-party delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who briefed them on the cross-border terrorism faced by India and the country's strong and resolute stance in the fight against terror.
The government will send seven all-party delegations to key partner countries, including members of the United Nations Security Council, later this month to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.
Glimpses from India and around the world that will make you smile and cry.
'The Congress submitted four names to the government as the people who should accompany the delegation.' 'I don't know what happened to those names.' 'When I was approached, I told them to speak to my party.' 'I have no further involvement with this delegation.'
The high court said the defence, if any, needs to be considered by the trial court on the basis of evidence.
"Word of the day! Definition of *snollygoster* US dialect: a shrewd, unprincipled politician. First Known Use: 1845. Most recent use: 26/7/17," Tharoor had tweeted in 2017.
'We can't afford to fight each other.' 'We have to win the 2026 election.'
Tharoor said that every 'Ram bhakt' was not a Bharatiya Janata party supporter and he saw no reason why he or the grand old party should relinquish Lord Ram to the saffron party.
'I would like to see Kharge include Shashi in the Congress Working Committee.' 'The other alternative is that the Congress will marginalise him.'
His remarks came a day after Kharge said he told Tharoor that it would be better to have a consensus candidate but the Lok Sabha MP insisted on a contest for the "sake of democracy".
The opposition party, however, said the four eminent Congress MPs and leaders who have been included at the instance of the Modi government will, of course, go with the delegations and make their contributions.
The 68-year-old former diplomat has been a vocal advocate of Samson's inclusion in the national set-up and had criticised his omission from the ODI World Cup squad last year.
Tagging the Congress' tweet, Tharoor said, 'Indeed! We should also acknowledge all those who revived and popularised yoga, including our government, @PMOIndia & @MEAIndia, for internationalising International Yoga Day through the @UN.'
Bandyopadhyay told PTI that he received a call from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and the external affairs ministry, and was asked to go to the US but he informed them that he would not be able to go due to health reasons.
In a post on X, Sherman said that he 'emphasised to the Pakistani delegation the importance of combatting terrorism, and in particular, the group Jaish-e-Mohammed, who murdered my constituent Daniel Pearl in 2002'.
Jaishankar said that the West has had a "bad habit" for a long time, of commenting on others, and it thinks it has a "God-given right" to speak about the internal matters of other countries.
Everyone knows who will win the election to succed Sonia Gandhi as Congress president. But who would YOU prefer?
'Since the party is at a stage when things are very bad, this is the best time to experiment.'
Tharoor later apologised for offending 'some people' and said the 'whole selfie thing' was done at the women MPs' initiative in 'great good humour and it was they who asked me to tweet it in the same spirit'.
He said Priyanka could have been a wonderful candidate in Varanasi as well, especially looking at how good the Congress candidate did against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't think big.' 'He looks more like an activist, while politics is like a game of chess. You attack and then defend and have a game-plan.'
The Congress on Sunday said it was not stopping anyone from being part of diplomatic delegations to be sent to various countries following Operation Sindoor and that its leaders who have been named at the instance of the government must listen to their conscience and contribute to the exercise.
Speaking to media after meeting party functionaries at Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee office in Mumbai, the former diplomat also said his aim was to make Congress stronger before the 2024 polls.
Fifty-nine members of delegations visiting 33 world capitals, reaching millions of people, giving one message, in one language, in one voice -- is an unprecedented world movement, observes former BJP MP Tarun Vijay, former Chief Editor, Panchjanya, the RSS weekly.
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