Krishna criticises Tharoor for Twitter remarks on visa rules

Rebuking his ministerial colleague Shashi Tharoor for airing his opposition to new visa rules, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna today said the government will go by the home ministry's guidelines.

Rebuking his ministerial colleague Shashi Tharoor for airing his opposition to new visa rules, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Monday said the government will go by the home ministry's guidelines and stressed that differences over issues should not be discussed in public.

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"We have gone along with home ministry on the visa issue," Krishna told reporters when asked about Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's remarks on Twitter, a social networking site, criticising the government for its new visa regulations.

New regulations were introduced November 4 in the wake of disclosures about the abuse of tourist visas by 26/11 suspect David Coleman Headley.

The home ministry issued a directive that foreign nationals having a long-term multi-entry Indian tourist visa must have a mandatory two-month gap between two visits. The new guidelines elicited protests from the US and British governments.

"Well, these issues are not to be discussed in public," Krishna said.

"If there are any perceptions, they should be sorted out within the four walls of the two ministries," he said.

In his tweets, Tharoor questioned whether the new visa restriction would actually strengthen security as the "26/11 killers had no visas".

"My only role is to object to them strongly. MEA (ministry of external affairs) officials are discussing them with MoHA (ministry of home affairs) which imposed them."

On December 26, Tharoor said: "Issue is not security vs (versus) tourism, but whether visa restrictions protect our security. 26/11 killers had no visas."