Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor

Tharoor is a member of the Indian Parliament from the Thiruvanthapuram constituency in Kerala. He studied at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University where he acquired three degrees including a PhD. His career in the United Nations began in 1978 and in 1997 Tharoor was appointed Director of Communications and Special Projects and as Executive Assistant to the Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In January 2001, he was appointed as the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, and as the head of Department of Public Information (UNDPI). In 2006, Tharoor was nominated by the Government of India for the post of UN Secretary General, but lost to Ban Ki Moon.

In March 2009, Shashi Tharoor contested the Indian General Elections as Congress party candidate from Thiruvanthapuram in Kerala. He went on to win defeating his nearest CPI rival P. Ramachandran Nair. Shashi Tharoor was selected as Minister of State in the Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On 28 May 2009 he was sworn in as the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs. He resigned from this post in April, 2010 on instructions by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, following allegations of corruption and misuse of office to get shares in the IPL cricket franchise of Cochin.