New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) Amid calls for his resignation over his “cattle class” remarks, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi after returning from his trip to Africa.
Tharoor, who is in charge of Africa and West Asia in the external affairs ministry, met Gandhi in the morning and shared impressions of his visit to Liberia and Ghana.
According to sources, Tharoor also explained the context of his cattle class tweet that triggered a hullabaloo with some Congress leaders demanding his resignation over remarks seen as “callous and insensitive” by some political leaders.
However, his aide said it was just a routine courtesy meeting.
Tharoor will also meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later in the day.
Before he left for Liberia, Tharoor had posted a message on social networking site Twitter, saying he would travel “cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows”.
The remarks did not play out well with the ruling party that had just launched an austerity drive.
Tharoor later apologised for his remark but the Congress indicated that it was displeased and would decide on what action to take against him.
“The Congress will take appropriate action at an appropriate time,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari said Sep 18.
Some Congress leaders like Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Rural Development Minister C.P. Joshi have also demanded Tharoor’s resignation for the remarks.
However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to downplay Tharoor’s remark saying it was just “a joke”.