G.M. Banatwalla was Member of Parliament Lok Sabha, representing the constituency of Ponnani in the State of Kerala, dont speak malayalam, nor he is born or brot up in Kerala.. Plzz do som homework b4 writing articles like this
Re: G. M. Banatwalla
by HS Nair on May 17, 2009 01:15 PM
You are absolutely right. The author is completely misplaced. It was not due to Shashi Tharoors personality that he won. This time around, anyone who contested on a congress ticket would have won by huge margin. Such was the anti -left feeling. In Wayanad constituency, Mr. Shanawas (who has lost all his previous elections) won by 1.5 lak votes margin. If it was a regular congress candidate he would have won from trivandrum by much higher margin this time.
UN's loss is india's gain.new york's loss is new delhi's gain.hopefully more such talented indians will return to india. shashi should now learn malayali. it would be quite difficult for him to "defect " to the west again with his ex-MP tag.he may even end up writing a book in malayali.his "from midnight to millenium" is a good book. he may add one more chapter-his won journey to the west and back !!! thanks to him for cutting the number of criminal politicians by one.
He'd make a suave and creditable Foreign Affairs minister compared to Pranab Mukherjee etc. He is clean and though a bit liberal and pro-US, well intentioned and skilled in the art of diplomacy and world affairs. Excellent verdict by people of Thiruvananthapuram, showing that they vote for people instead of party. Excellent selection of candidate also.
We have reasonably clean guys heading the important portfolios :
Manmohan Singh - PM A K Antony - Defence Shashi Tharoor - Foreign Affairs Pranab Mukherjee - Home and Internal Affairs
Also non performing, showpeople like Ambareesh, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Renuka "Thunder thighs" Chowdary, etc have been solidly beaten this time around. I hope capable youngsters also get a place in the ministries, although I still feel Rahul Gandhi is hugely overrated, and is not yet ready to handle a cabinet portfolio. I hope he gets some not so important portfolio and concentrate on increasing his credentials to be the PM candidate next time.
Congress still suffers from Gandhi-dom, and hopefully this term they can work towards ensuring healthy competition within their ranks. Unlikely, but if they concentrate on spoon feeding Rahul beta, they will go the way of earlier Congress Govts and descend into sheer nepotism.
For now, congrats to UPA. NDA, better luck next time.
At least we are free of scum bags like Mayawati, Lalu, Mulayam, Karat etc at the centre.
Re: Surely Foreign Affairs Minister
by Irgun Stern on May 17, 2009 11:45 AM
tharoor would be no better than that gujral and his infamous doctrine. wont be surprised if bangladeshi planes bomb indian territory. tharoor like nehru hanker after internation fame. they dont understand realpolitiks.
I feel that a peronl like Shashi Tharoor has lot of potential to give our country a vision and growth for its over all development. People like him should join the cabinet who has vast experience in International Affairs and can contribute immensely to the development of the country.
I was watching rediff during election period. When Mr. Sreenivasan wrote about Dr. Sasi, there were so many street fighters in rediff blog, questioning his modes operand i and his Pro US. He won now. Street dogs why are you still fighting..for no reason. Let the ideas flourish..not the stupidity
I wrote in this column earlier that we need more" Shashi-s",educated global Indians,in Indian politics.Sonia's leadership coupled with Rahul's vision and global Indians can lead India in 21st Century. Congradulation Shashi! See you in Parliament. A.S.Sebastian Dubai.
Re: Shashi Tharoor-the man to watch.
by C. Alex Alexander on May 17, 2009 07:04 AM
Please do not demean Shashi Tharoor's brilliant performance by "coupling" his achievement with "Sonia's leadership". Sonia is a midget who is being idolized by those Indians who lack self-esteem. It is a shame that a nation with a billion people cannot find a native Indian leader to lead its principal political party, viz., the Indian National Congress!
Let us congratulate Shashi for his unique qchievement without having to "couple" him with Sonia's "leadership", whatever the latter means!!!
Re: Re: Shashi Tharoor-the man to watch.
by B Krishnakumar on May 17, 2009 07:52 AM
Shashi is a lot smarter than you and billions of others and I am proud to have him represent us in the Lok sabha.
We do not want cities to become congested and choked before we start thinking about a metro.
We want to plan with a margin and make these allocation before hand.
Trivandrum also needs a huge desalination plant and implementation of Solar Energy schemes. It needs neat roads and sanitation. Let us see if Shashi can harness the Keralite's ability to work hard which is harnessed only by Gulf kingdoms in Trivandrum itself.
Let see what kind of experience Shashi can bring into transforming Trivandrum.
I think the following statement in this article is wrong. What about JM Banathwalah and Ibrahim Sulaiman ? None of the attributes applies to both of them ! Author may want to correct this as "in Trivandrum" instead of "in state"
. Never before has any one not born in Kerala or not educated here or not proficient in Malayalam registered an electoral victory in the state.
All the best for your upcoming term & for fulfilling your election promises.Please take wholehearted measures for constructive reformation of Thiruvanathapuram which I believe you will do.
