Tharoor, Krishna to meet on visa issue

The minister of state for external affairs on Tuesday also said he missed the “brouhaha” over his remarks on the tightening of visa norms as he was on a tour.

“Was travelling out of range and missed brouhaha. Now that EAM (External Affairs Minister) Krishnaji, whom I respect, has spoken, I hv (have) nothing 2 (to) add. Will discuss visa issue w (with) him (Krishna),” Tharoor said in his latest post on ‘Twitter’.

Krishna had on Monday advised Tharoor, albeit without referring to him directly, that he should have aired his “perceptions” on the new visa rules within the four walls of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) instead of going public.

Tharoor, in one of his recent messages on Twitter, had asked whether the tightening of visa regime would actually enhance the security of the nation. He reminded that the terrorists who carried out the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai had no visa, but yet they were able to sneak into the metropolis.

The new guidelines on multi-entry tourist visas were issued on November 4 last, after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informed New Delhi that the arrested Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley had used a multi-entry visa to make nine trips to India between September 2006 and March 2009.