'It's a rare privilege, within a matter of months, I have changed my residence, my profession, my daily thrust of work, and it's in some ways quite invigorating,' Shashi Tharoor, minister of state for external affairs, tells Aziz Haniffa in an exclusive interview.
Under fire, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor will make a statement on the IPL controversy in the Lok Sabha at noon in the Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal on Friday.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor enjoys an eventful day in Manhattan, NYC.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday condemned as 'utterly irresponsible' Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's remark that Saudi Arabia could act as an interlocutor between India and Pakistan, saying it will seek a clarification from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Monday expressed appreciation over Indian Ambassador to the United States Meera Shankar informing the Indian government about reports of corruption. However, he remained mum over the Centre's delay in taking action against officials who had allegedly accepted bribes from US companies. The government would initiate action against corrupt officials at the earliest, he added.
Supporters of the proposal voiced their grievances at the gathering on how their properties were allegedly taken over by government, mafia and illegal occupants.
Welcoming the ban on terrorist organisations in Pakistan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said India expects Islamabad to fulfill its commitment to take action against perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, including Hafeez Saeed.
Trouble for beleaguered minister of state for external affairs, Shashi Tharoor grew on Friday with opposition paralysing Parliament demanding his removal and his own ministerial colleague Farooq Abdullah favouring his stepping down to protect the "honour" of the government.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's security has been tightened following an SMS death threat received by him from Mumbai.The SMS was reportedly sent by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's associate Chhota Shakeel.In the SMS, Tharoor was asked to apologise to Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi over the Kochi IPL team standoff.Tharoor has reportedly written to the home ministry about the death threat, following which his security has been tightened.
"Our foreign policy debates in Parliament and the media seem obsessed with Pakistan or with ephemera, or worse ephemera about Pakistan," he said, during the annual convocation of Mangalore University while underlining the need for improving study of international affairs.
In an hour-long meeting held on Tuesday evening, All India Congress Committee general secretary Janardan Dwivedi reportedly warned Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor that his various controversial statements were proving to be an embarrassment for both the party and the government. Sources in the party say that Tharoor defended himself on the use of the word 'interlocutor' in the context of India seeking Saudi Arabia's help.
The Bhartiya Janata Party on Tuesday stoutly protested at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging Saudi Arabia to persuade Pakistan to stop supporting terrorism, dubbing it as a major departure in foreign policy tenet of never involving third parties in the bilateral issues.
The government on Thursday said documents related to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley's visa were yet to be traced while those of his associate Tahawwur Rana had been found, contradicting claims by Indian Consulate in Chicago that no papers had gone missing.
K Karunakaran, the former chief minister of Kerala, who was hospitalised in a critical condition has now started meeting and talking to people, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor who met the veteran leader told media persons 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.
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.
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.
'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.
Former Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor arrived in Thiruvananthapuram constituency for the first time after his resignation from the post.
Rediff.com takes a look at some recent high-profile resignations by politicians who went blue in the face proclaiming their innocence.
It is final. Shashi Tharoor is quitting the government. At last, the minister of state for external affairs is bowing out under the pressure from the Congress party.
Under severe push from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee combine, the Congress core committee decided to show Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor the door on Sunday evening.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, who is embroiled in a row over the ownership of Indian Premier League's Kochi franchise, on Sunday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apparently to explain his position on the issue.
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi's powers are set to be curtailed considerably as the move to clip his wings gained momentum at an informal BCCI meeting in Dharamshala where the Board's top brass discussed the Kochi franchise ownership row.
Making it amply clear that IPL chairman Lalit Modi will have to face some tough questions at the upcoming BCCI Working Committee meeting, JKCA president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said there are some "issues" that need to be sorted out.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, in a statement in the Parliament on Friday, rejected the Opposition's demands for his resignation by asserting that the allegations against him on the Indian Premier League issue were 'baseless, ill-founded and ill-motivated'.
Both Houses of Parliament had to be adjourned on Friday during Question Hour after Opposition parties created an uproar demanding that Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor submit his resignation over the Kochi IPL ownership controversy.
Sources say that there are serious reservations over the style of functioning of Lalit Modi who appears to have become "more and more high handed and autocratic" with each passing day and one option being considered is to appoint a full time paid professional IPL commissioner to run the league with Modi being made the chairman with much less powers.
The second phase of the Budget session of Parliament commenced on Thursday with all the attention turning on Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded the sacking of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor in the wake of controversy over Indian Premeir League's Kochi team ownership.
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.
The vexed boundary dispute will not affect the Sino-Indian ties, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said on Saturday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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