'Shashi Tharoor's election to UN post not easy'

On Board Air India One, Jul 18: Acknowledging that the election of Mr Shashi Tharoor, India's candidate for UN Secretary General's post, was not going to be easy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the government decided to have a go at the post as it was the turn of Asia and the next opportunity would come only after 40 years.

"Honestly, I can't say we have the job in our pocket," he told reporters who accompanied him on his visit to the G-8 Summit in St Petersburg.

Strongly defending the decision to field Mr Tharoor, the Prime Minister said he had tremendous experience in matters relating to refugees and peace keeping and had been a part of the UN systems for the last 30 years.

"He has the best qualities for carrying out (UN) reforms (under which) India is asking for permanent membership of the UN," Dr Singh said.

"We are happy to put him up as our candidate," he added.

Asked about the response of the G-8 countries and its outreach partners to Mr Tharoor's candidature, Dr Singh said everybody agreed that there was no doubt about his credentials and he was a well known entity.

UNI