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.
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.
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.
"The action that is expected from Pakistan has to take place before we can engage once again in the kind of comprehensive dialogue process that we want," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said.
Continuing to 'tweet' his opinion despite receiving flak, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor now feels people should work rather than enjoy a holiday on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.
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".
Tharoor has nearly 175,000 followers on Twitter. An account that he started when he launched his election campaign now may now cost him dear as voices urging him to log off Twitter keep getting louder by the day.
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".
Expect the unexpected when it comes to Test cricket says Indian batting ace Sachin Tendulkar, who recalled how Wasim Akram peppered him with bouncers even as he expected yorkers in his maiden Test series in Pakistan. Tendulkar was speaking in Mumbai on Friday at the launch of a book Shadows across the playing field, authored by India's Minister of state for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor and former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman and diplomat Shaharyar Khan.
"It is not a sign of mounting tension....it is a sign that your government is determined to protect the borders of India and takes its responsibilities seriously," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said in Thiruvananthpuram while reacting to media reports on the matter.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Thursday defended Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on the joint statement issued after his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Egypt.However, his statement had few takers, and most experts feel that the reference to Baluchistan in the joint statement would prove to be a costly blunder.The Bharatiya Janata Party has also criticised Dr Singh.
India is hopeful of getting the non-permanent Asian seat in the United Nations Security Council, said Minister of state for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Friday.
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.
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.
Saudi Arabia can be a 'valuable interlocutor' between India and Pakistan, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said on Sunday and subsequently clarified that he did not mean that Riyadh should be a mediator.
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".
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.
India on Saturday said it wishes to see that 'exemplary punishment' is given to the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, who have been charge-sheeted in a Pakistani anti-terror court.
"Indian democracy provides for both kinds (elected and nominated). Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, if he had chosen to contest this year, would have certainly won from anywhere in the country," Tharoor said.
Having drawn flak for staying in a five-star hotel for the last three months, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor described the controversy as "silly seasoned" that prompted invitation by many of his friends to stay with them.
Ahead of Foreign Minister S M Krishna's maiden visit to Australia, India has said it was still concerned over the safety of its students studying in the country, though New Delhi did not want the issue to 'infect' bilateral relations. Hoping that the attacks on Indian students will not affect the Indo-Australian relationship, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said that the matter will only die down when the attacks stop or become rare.
In an effort to check forgeries and misuse of passports, the government is rolling out e-passports that will carry biometric information in a chip.
Indian Premier League (IPL) Commissioner Lalit Modi on Friday accused Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor of having an agenda in promoting the Kochi IPL fanchise, and asserted that he won't let that agenda succeed.
Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner Shah Rukh Khan has denied offering any role in the team to Dubai-based entrepreneur Sunanda Pushkar, who is at the centre of an ownership row involving the Kochi franchise.
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.
Often surrounded with controversies over his use of words, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has said he has been "brought down" as there were "elements in our society who rather revel in bringing down people as well".
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Monday said the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama was visiting Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh on his own and that India had not suggested him to do so.
Three years back they were rivals for the same job. Today, they were shaking hands in a meeting which, at least on surface, looked quite warm. United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki Moon shook hands with Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor in UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
"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.
Celebs and commoners cast their votes in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election on Friday, April 26, 2024
Unfortunately, the best man does not always win, but I feel enriched by the experience of the campaign and getting to know Rajeev Chandrasekhar, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
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