Shashi Tharoor sacked as Congress spokesperson: Know the curious case of former Union minister

It must be a very tough time for Shashi Tharoor, a former Union minister and two time MP from Thiruvananthapuram. The controversy after praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi has barely died down, before he was wobbled by the autopsy report of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. In a double whammy, Tharoor has been sacked from party spokesperson after Kerela Congress had raised hackles against him for praising prime minister Narendra Modi.

What, how and why of Sunanda's death

An autopsy report has claimed that Sunanda Pushkar had died of poisoning, though it is still not clear whether that was because of the overdose of medicine or she was given poison by someone. Meanwhile, the BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has demanded CBI probe in whole matter. His reaction tells everything about the alleged role of Tharoor, who was a top official with the United Nations before he took the plunge into politics.

The maverick BJP leader Swamy said as quoted by ANI, "This is something that has vindicated my position and i have been saying this from day one. There are many indications that now prove that Delhi police did not provide the documents to the autopsy committee which proves that they are under some pressure".

"The autopsy also establishes that there was a deep thumb mark on her body, like somebody tried to open her mouth. Most of all, there are disturbances in Shashi Tharoor's statement. He also was caught sending emails to the director. We don't have any other option but to order a CBI investigation on this case," he said.

Reports say that Sunanda Pushkar's brother Ashok Kumar has also raised suspicion over whole issue. He said that his sister was upset because of Tharoor's growing closeness with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar. The same fact was validated by renowned journalist Nalini Singh in a statement to SDM.

Sunanda, was found dead in a 5-star hotel in south Delhi on January 17 this year. This had happened only a day after her twitter spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over an alleged affair with Tharoor. Since then mystery around her death never died down .

Tharoor- A controversial child

The union Minister always dogged with controversies, right from his first stint as a MP in 2009. In that year itself, he drew criticism for staying in luxurious 5-star hotel along with party leader S M Krishna at the time when party was harping about austerity drive.

Before this could simmer down, he courted another controversy by his remarks on Twitter in which he described the economy class as "cattle class". The party expressed its displeasure and accused him of not following ethos and decorum.

Soon, another controversy erupted when Tharoor said people should be working on Gandhi Jayanti rather than staying at home. He believed that this will be the real homage to Mahatma Gandhi.

Tharoor even criticized Gandhi and Nehru for their vision on Indian foreign policy in January 2010. The Union Minister also faced flak for that before he refuted this report.

Facing ire for heaping praise on Narendra Modi

Recently he faced wrath of Kerala Congress leaders for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tharoor was one of the nine Indians who were tagged by Modi when he launched the Swacch Bharat mission on Gandhi Jayanti day. Later, Tharoor hailed Modi for undertaking the cleaning campaign.

Though he got some unexpected support from senior leader Digvijay Singh. "I see nothing wrong in Shashi Tharoor accepting to be Brand Ambassador for Swachhta Abhiyan. It is Congress Party programme adopted by Modi," Singh said on Twitter.

Recently, a Congress publication in Kerala tore into Mr Tharoor through caustic article which said as quoted by NDTV, "Holy cows who cannot stand one election defeat, how long will they last with the Congress party? In the present drought of the Congress, the disappointed ones must have been attracted to the prosperity and reign of the BJP."