Shashi Tharoor to be sworn in as minister

October 7th, 2009 THIRUVANATHAPURAM - Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, drawing flak for many of his Twitter postings, has found support from Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. "He has a slightly different role...

September 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The current financial crisis has shaken the global economic order, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said here Thursday. In a way, the current crisis has questioned the very assumptions underlying the global economic order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War, Tharoor said at an RIS-Japan Economic Foundation Symposium.

September 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Amid calls for his resignation over his "cattle class" remarks, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi after returning from his trip to Africa. Tharoor, who is in charge of Africa and West Asia in the external affairs ministry, met Gandhi in the morning and shared impressions of his visit to Liberia and Ghana.

September 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - After being asked to leave a five-star hotel, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor used the social networking tool Twitter to give his reaction, pointing out that he was spending his "own savings". "I wld be ashamed if I was spending the people's money.

July 28th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said Tuesday that a delegation from Barcelona would soon arrive here for talks on making the Spanish city and the Kerala capital twin cities. Tharoor told reporters here that he has already discussed the proposal with the mayor of Barcelona, who has agreed to send two separate delegations to begin exploratory talks with the mayor of Thiruvananthapuram.

June 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Government on Monday said that the composite dialogue with Pakistan could be resumed only after Islamabad gives an assurance that Mumbai attacks like incidents would not be allowed to emanate from its soil. Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, speaking in the national capital, said, "New Delhi is willing to engage in dialogue with Islamabad but it expects certain very positive actions from the other side that its territory will not be willfully used to do us harm." Tharoor also demanded that Pakistan should bring the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks to book, an action which would help in reviving the Indo-Pak dialogue.

June 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - On his first official foreign tour after assuming office, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor Tuesday met with senior ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during his day-long visit to Dubai. Tharoor arrived in Dubai Tuesday on way to Yemen, where he will represent India at the council of ministers meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation.

June 13th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - A massive crowd of Congress activists turned up at the airport here Saturday to greet Congress MP Shashi Tharoor as he arrived on his first visit to Kerala after assuming charge as minister of state for external affairs. Tharoor, a former UN undersecretary general, was literally mobbed as he emerged from the airport terminal.

May 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Newly inducted ministers took charge of their offices in different ministries on Friday. Former United Nations diplomat and writer Shashi Tharoor, who was appointed as the Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, said he would work towards strengthening India's place in the world.

May 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Shashi Tharoor, who served as UN under-secretary general, was Thursday named minister of state for external affairs. Apart from the first-time MP and author, also named minister of state for external affairs in the portfolio allocations announced late Thursday is Preneet Kaur, wife of former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh.

May 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Former diplomat and first-time MP Shashi Tharoor Monday said that he has stopped writing columns in newspaper and periodicals as he wants to concentrate on the problems of his constituency. "I have stopped all the columns," Tharoor told reporters here.

May 18th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Thiruvanthapuram MP-elect and former UN under secretary general Shashi Tharoor has already swung into action -- a day after his stunning victory by close to 100,000 votes. Tharoor has already found out the whereabouts of four local fishermen who were taken into custody by Sri Lankan police, attended close to a dozen weddings and also visited the trouble torn Bheemapally area where five people were killed after violence broke out between two communities.

May 16th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Former UN undersecretary general and Congress party's Shashi Tharoor won the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat by over 80,000 votes, making his debut in Indian politics. Tharoor got an early lead right as counting began and maintained it throughout.

March 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Shashi Tharoor has been appearing on TV talk shows taking questions ranging from what he wrote about Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a book to his plans for the Thiruvananthapuram constituency. In one talk show, Tharoor, who has lived in the US for the most part of his life, was asked if he is a 'US agent'.

March 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Author, columnist and former UN undersecretary general Shashi Tharoor, whose name is being considered as the Congress candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, has met with strong resistance from the youth brigade of the party. Sunday evening, an angry group of activists believed to be from the Youth Congress marched towards the party headquarters in the Kerala here and burnt Tharoor in effigy.