Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has defended his tweets, saying they are 'interactive Akashvani', but has expressed regret over the distortion of his comments. "This is an extended and very informal conversation with a large number of people. I have over seven lakh people who are reading what I have to say, who react to what I have to say and who also put up questions to me," Tharoor said. "It's a kind of interactive Akashvani," he said.
A non-Gandhi is set to become the Congress president after 24 years.
After casting his vote, Thirunavukarasar, also an MP, said the elections are being held in a transparent manner and Kharge is the most favourite of the two -- the other being Shashi Tharoor.
Rudy described the remarks of Tharoor about media as an "attack on India media" and said BJP would like to know from him that when he called the Indian people cattle class, did the Indian media misrepresent him? "Was the media irresponsible when the they questioned his statement after he said terrorist don't need visa to come in this country," he asked.
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.
The former Union minister said the population debate is 'utterly misplaced' and half a century out-of-date as a large majority of Indian states have achieved replacement levels of fertility.
"The image of the US is in the finest shape it's been in a very long time, and that's because the rest of the world believes in the kind of leadership President Obama is bringing to his task," the former UN Under Secretary General said at the Colbert Report news show. "He has given us hope," Tharoor said.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor feels it "raises a larger question, as to whether Muslims, who are such a significant portion of our population are suffering particularly from the procedures that are applied to them when they travel to the US."
Several opposition MPs in India have criticized the government's handling of the deportation of Indian citizens from the United States, questioning the treatment they received. A US military aircraft carrying 104 Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar, India, on Wednesday, marking the first batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration. The deportees reported being handcuffed throughout the journey, sparking protests from opposition leaders who staged a demonstration in Parliament wearing handcuffs. While the government maintains it will address the issue at a later time, opposition members condemned the treatment of the Indians and questioned the government's handling of the situation.
Union Minister Shashi Tharoor met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday night as the controversy surrounding him in the IPL snowballed with the opposition demanding his sacking.
Left parties on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Shashi Tharoor, saying it was 'highly inappropriate' for a minister in the Union government to be involved in 'murky dealings' with regard to the IPL. "It is incumbent upon Tharoor to step down from office till his name is cleared of any unethical or irregular behaviour," the CPI-M said in a statement. Tharoor is battling allegations that a beautician romantically linked to him had received Rs 70-crore free equity.
Hitting out at Tharoor, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee working president and the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Kodikkunnil Suresh on Friday said everybody in the party should work according to it's policies and programmes.
The senior Congress leader asserted that public institutions need the "patronage of the powerful".
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 Congress had moved the poll panel claiming a mismatch in actual and declared assets in the affidavit filed by Chandrasekhar, who is in the fray against former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor.
'Maybe this has created some minor issues which can happen in any party.'
"Wah kya girlfriend hai. Apne kabhi dekha hai 50 crore ka girlfriend? (What a girlfriend? Have you ever seen a 50-crore girlfriend), Modi said at an election rally, in an apparent attack on Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar.
A total of 20 forms were received during the nomination process. Four of them were rejected as signatures were repeated or did not match, he said.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor recently made his first foray to the United Nations -- where he had served for more than two decades as Under Secretary General of Communications -- over two-and-a-half years after his unsuccessful bid for the position of UN Secretary General.
Soon after his return from Liberia and Ghana where he was on an official visit, Tharoor met Gandhi amid demands for his resignation as Minister of State for External Affairs. Later he also met senior Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to downplay the comments of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on austerity on Twitter saying "it was a joke".
Perhaps chastised by the recent criticism from his party high command and the general public, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has apologised for his recent comment that he was prepared to travel in the "cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows".
For those having any 'fear or doubt' in their mind, Tharoor said, the party has made it clear that it will be a secret ballot.
Supporters of the proposal voiced their grievances at the gathering on how their properties were allegedly taken over by government, mafia and illegal occupants.
There is nothing wrong in business persons and professionals entering public life and becoming ministers. But once they do so, they should keep at an arms length their private interests, both of their own and their near and dear ones.
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.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and former Minister of State Shashi Tharoor were seen having a long chat in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, after a newspaper reported their alleged link in the Indian Premier League bids for the Kochi team.
After maintaining silence for days on Twitter, Shashi Tharoor was back, only to thank his supporters for all the "kind words" at this "time of trial".
With investigators trying to unravel the identity of those behind the Pune blast, the government "may not yet" point finger at any foreign country for the terror attack till more evidence was gathered, Union minister Shashi Tharoor said on Monday.
Wharton should've heard Modi after inviting him: Tharoor
Tharoor talked to Dr Singh over phone on Sunday morning and explained that the media had misinterpreted his comments, which he had made as chairman of a seminar at the Indian Council of World Affairs on Friday.
A day after his reported remarks at an academic seminar on international relations created a flutter in the Congress, Tharoor called a press conference in his office and said he was dismayed at the "inaccurate and tendentious reporting".
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.
Tharoor said the Congress should stand up for its foundational principles.
India has a 'fundamentally healthy' relationship with China that goes beyond the boundary issue, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor stated on Tuesday."The relationship should not be seen only in the context of the problems, it should also be seen in the context of the opportunity," he said when asked about the India-China border talks last week. Tharoor said, "We are very pleased to say that, by and large, the relationship remains healthy."
"I am going to be associating myself with being chairman of a company that is not yet incorporated, but that will be (decided) in the next week or ten days. It will invest in India, and particularly in Kerala, from where I come from," Tharoor said.
'In some quarters it has been suggested that there will be an 'official candidate' backed by the leadership but on the contrary, it has been repeatedly stressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in my conversations with them over the last two weeks that the Nehru-Gandhi family welcomes these elections'
The Congress dubbed the latest Twitter remark by Union Minister Shashi Tharoor as his "personal view". Tharoor had remarked on microblogsite 'Twitter' that people should work rather than enjoy a holiday on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.
India's nominee for the United Nations secretary general's post Shashi Tharoor has rejected the contention that lack of political experience would be a hindrance in performing his duties as the world body's chief.
