The former minister was a frequent flier to the Emirates and for reasons not quite official

Did Dubai trips cost Tharoor his job?

The former minister was a frequent flier to the Emirates and for reasons not quite official

It all began in Dubai. Since taking over as Minister of State for External Affairs in May 2009, Shashi Tharoor had visited the Gulf state about 14 times within the span of a year. Two of these visits were official trips. Once he made a stopover while on another formal tour. The rest of the trips were all rather personal in nature.
"He used to keep coming to Dubai frequently. Dubai was like a second home. Even I have met him in Dubai thrice," said a Dubai-based journalist, requesting anonymity.

Costly trips? Shashi Tharoor submitted his resignation following the IPL
Kochi controversy. file pic

During investigations, Enforcement Directorate officials had discovered that some of the promoters of the Rendezvous Sports World-led consortium, which won the Kochi franchise, including Harshad Mehta and Sunanda Pushkar, are based in Dubai.

Key point
Sources say that Tharoor's frequent flying to the Emirates was a key point that went against him.
The Prime Minister had already been informed before he met Tharoor on Sunday. So, while Tharoor did his best to exonerate himself during the two meetings with Manmohan Singh, the noose was already tightening around him.

Sources in the Indian Embassy in Dubai also confirmed Tharoor's frequent visits to the state, but were unable to come up with an exact figure. However, External Affairs Ministry sources confirmed that the number was close to 14.

Long relationship
Besides the trips that he made after being sworn in as a minister, Tharoor has always had a Dubai link. He became the chairman of Dubai-based Afras Ventures in 2007, but quit the job when he contested the parliamentary elections in 2009. Afras Ventures is the company, which set up the Afras Academy for Business Communication (AABC) in Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor's constituency, sources added.

Tharoor's profile on the MEA website confirms his Afras-link. Interestingly a 20% stake in the company is owned by the father of Joseph Jacob, who was Tharoor's OSD (Officer on Special Duty) till recently. Also, Nand Kishore Radhakrishnan, the founder of Afras Ventures is a Keralite.

ED officials are also verifying if black money from Dubai is being pumped into the IPL through back channels. Sources also confirmed that Joseph Jacob met Tharoor in Dubai for the first time. He was later recruited as Tharoor's OSD.

Controversy's pal

Controversies dogged Shashi Tharoor throughout his short tenure as the Minister of State for Externalu00a0 Affairs. Here's a blow-by-blow account:
> It all began with Tharoor's stay at a luxury hotel instead of the official accommodation, which became an embarrassment issue for the party that swore by 'aam aadmi' in the elections and had launched an austerity drive. This resulted in senior Minister Pranab Mukherjee asking him and his senior S M Krishna to vacate the luxury hotel rooms for which they claimed they were paying from their pocket.
> In the wake of restrictions on flying executive class due to the austerity drive, Tharoor courted another controversy by his remarks on Twitter in which he described the economy class as "cattle class".
> Before this could simmer down, yet another controversy erupted when Tharoor said people should be working on Gandhi Jayanti rather than staying at home thereby paying real homage to the Mahatma.
> Tharoor was in the news again for publicly criticising the new visa guidelines adopted by the Government in the wake of the gaps exposed by the arrest of 26/11 terror suspects, David Headley and Tahawwur Rana.
> In January 2010, Tharoor was also criticised for his candid negative views, expressed at a public function, on Nehru for his vision on Indian foreign policy.