Tharoor meets students of the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School for the Deaf who called on him at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram yesterday.
The Left opposition yesterday raised questions in the Kerala assembly over Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor’s alleged links with a Pakistani journalist.
Capitalising on the allegations, legislator James Mathew asked during the question hour if the state government was aware of the minister’s alleged links.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala responded, “these are only media reports and there have been no official clarifications on this.”
The Left has already demanded that the death of Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar, who was found dead at a luxury hotel in Delhi early this month, be probed.
Soon after the issue was raised in the assembly, angry treasury bench legislators joined the issue.
The Left legislators also raised the issue of Tharoor being appointed as Congress’s spokesperson, to which Speaker G Karthikeyan said it was a party’s internal decision which need not figure in the house.
Chennithala said the police was closely monitoring the social media (facebook and twitter) in the state and if there are any suspicious activities it would be referred to central agencies.
Tharoor arrived in the Kerala capital on Wednesday with his deceased wife’s ashes which will be immersed at the Triveni Sangamam in Kanyakumari today.
Later yesterday Kerala Governor Nikhil Kumar, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Speaker G Karthikeyan and members of the state’s cabinet visited Tharoor to pay their respects.
Pushkar’s son Shiv Menon will also arrive at Kanyakumari for the rituals today, sources at his office here said.
Both Shiv Menon and Rajesh Pushkar, Sunanda’s brother, have issued separate statements dismissing allegations against Tharoor as “unimaginable” and sought an end to the rumours that were hurting the family.
Rajesh had also stated that both he and his father were “deeply disturbed’ at the “slanderous statements” that have been made in the media regarding her death.
Leaders of the Congress party hope that these statements would disarm the opposition attempts to make it a campaign point. A large number of Congress party workers also visited him to express their solidarity with him.