As the results for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 were declared on Tuesday, here is how some of the big faces fared in the contest.
A parliamentary panel on Friday questioned top Twitter officials over a whistle-blower's revelations on its India operations, and gave them a dressing-down as their replies on issue of data security and privacy were "not satisfactory", sources said.
Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday claimed many electors have been instructed by 'their leaders' to support his rival but they may eventually vote for him in a secret ballot.
With the Kerala Youth Congress elections round the corner, the bitter rivalry between state party president Ramesh Chennithala and leader of Opposition and former chief minister Oomen Chandy has come to the fore. According to sources, Thiruvananthapuram's beleaguered Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor has extended his support to Chandy, who has stood by the former minister of state for external affairs though the present IPL crisis.
Sonia stated that it was not surprising that people would back one of their own, said Tharoor.
Voting began on Monday in the Congress presidential polls as senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor face-off for the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief.
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.
Rejecting speculation that Shashi Tharoor was asked to step down during his meeting with senior Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony, sources close to the Minister of State for External Affairs said on Wednesday night that things were "okay" on the issue.
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.
Amid questions over his future, many political observers believe he has enhanced his political stature.
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.
We have nothing to gain by raising our concerns internationally as our narrative has got entangled with several controversial concepts in the United Nations, asserts Ambassador T N Sreenivasan.
Tharoor was charged under sections 498A and 306 of the Indian Penal Code by Delhi police, but was not arrested in the case.
"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."
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.
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.
"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.
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".
Supporters of the proposal voiced their grievances at the gathering on how their properties were allegedly taken over by government, mafia and illegal occupants.
Indian English is the only language that uses the expression 'non-veg' for meat, fish, and those who consume them. A fascinating extract from Shashi Tharoor's A Wonderland of Words: Around the Word in 101 Essays.
Wharton should've heard Modi after inviting him: Tharoor
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".
Tharoor's appeal came in support of his party colleague and former MP Sandeep Dikshit's remarks that the the biggest challenge the party faces is the 'leadership question'.
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.
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".
All-party parliamentary delegations on Monday met with the leaders of several countries and highlighted India's resolve to combat terrorism, which they stressed must be eradicated in the interests of all humanity.
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.
Kharge or somebody else, whoever becomes the chief, he will only be a face to show, Sushil Modi said.
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."
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