Disgraced Tharoor gets Krishna’s pat

Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday received words of appreciation from his former boss, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.

Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday received words of appreciation from his former boss, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.

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When they met in Parliament on Wednesday morning, Krishna told Tharoor that he would like to visit his Delhi resident in the evening — for “thanking his colleague of nine months” for all his good works.

While on his way to Tharoor’s house, Krishna gave a few suggestions to Tharoor. “Work hard as Member of Parliament (MP),” he told Tharoor, advising him to take his work as an MP seriously. According to sources, he told Tharoor to work hard for his constituency and earn the people’s goodwill.

“The party will look into the rest, everything,” Krishna assured Tharoor, sources said.

The minister also appreciated Tharoor’s work in office. As a minister of state, Tharoor looked after the affairs of the Gulf, Haj, Africa and Latin America, besides a section pertaining to the ministry’s policy, planning and research.

Tharoor, meanwhile, got support from former United Nations Secretary-General and his one-time boss, Kofi Annan.

“Hi, 1.2 billion-plus people of India. If you think you live in a democratic country, then you are 100 per cent wrong,” Annan, wrote in a message posted at http://supporttharoor.org, a portal that was launched to garner support for the beleaguered minister a day before he resigned.

“You vote once in five years. And for five years the country belongs to your politicians. They enjoy for five years. So if you think India is democratic, think again,” he writes.

The portal on which Annan recorded his support for Tharoor has now garnered 12,000 pledges for the former minister and first-time MP from Kerala.