It seems Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's penchant for taking cricket to Kerala might cost him his job. The Congress party is believed to be unconvinced by Tharoor's explanation of his involvement in the entire IPL-Kochi controversy.

It's now almost certain that the Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor will not survive the controversy. Sources have told NDTV that Tharoor's exit is only a matter of time after allegations that he had misused his authority to help his friend Sunanda Pushkar get 'free' equity worth 70 crores in the Kochi franchise.

Sources now talk of a compromise formula which says if Sunanda surrenders stake in IPL Kochi, Tharoor may get a reprieve. Potential compromise formula: Sunanda surrenders 70-crore stake which is seen as an exceptionally sweet detail. She gets it without any investment, is free to sell it at any point.

There are also news reports that Tharoor lobbied for Sunanda's stake to be raised even higher and party so far does not accept his explanation completely.

Congress sources say it would have looked better if Tharoor had at least offered to resign.

Tharoor said on record to NDTV he would not resign; party sources say this was out of line. In any case, if he has to go, party would rather like him to resign so it doesn't seem like it has given it to BJP's demand of sacking him.

Now questions are being raised whether Tharoor will take the hint and step down.

In an exclusive interview to NDTV's Barkha Dutt on April 14, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said that "resigning would mean I've given up."

Tharoor said he will convey the details of his relationship with the Kochi Indian Premier League (IPL) to Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister. "I have done nothing wrong, I stand with my head held high," he had said. Congress is upset that ally Sharad Pawar is batting for IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi - another pressure-point in troubled relationship with NCP.

According to sources the Congress does not want the government or the Prime Minister to be tainted with this scam and that prima facie they believe that Tharoor's explanations are not convincing.

The Congress also believes that the PM should not have to speak on Tharoor's behalf. But final decision will be taken only after PM returns. The Congress president and the Prime Minister will meet tonight on Tharoor issue.
 

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Slain LTTE chief V Prabhakaran's ailing mother, Parvathi, who arrived on Friday night from Malaysia was deported immediately as the Central government did not give permission for her stay in India, police said in Chennai.

Paravathi, who has paralysis, had reportedly come to Chennai for treatment but policemen did not permit her to alight from the aircraft, officials said.

Elaborate security arrangements were made and suburban Police Commissioner, Jahangir, was himself present to oversee matters as there was a crowd of over 150 persons including MDMK general secretary Vaiko and Tamil nationalist movement leader P Neduraman, both vocal supporters of the proscribed LTTE, at the airport.

On May 18, 2009, the Sri Lankan government announced that Prabhakaran had been killed while trying to escape advancing Army troops in the north of the country and said his parents were found inside a camp for displaced people.

His father Tiruvekkdam Velupilli died this January

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Stepping up his attack, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi has claimed that Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor had a hidden agenda of taking away the Kochi franchise to Abu Dhabi, a charge denied by him.

"This morning, I learnt from a colleague of mine that Mr Tharoor has approached that he would like their support to move the team out to Abu Dhabi. I don't know which way they are going. The theme is to play in India, We will not allow any team to play outside India," he said.

Modi said the IPL would stay in India. "We have a robust league and we will continue doing a good job irrespective of hidden agendas.

"We will not allow Mr Tharoor to try and shadow this up. Tharoor has a different agenda and it will be shut down, believe me," Modi said.

Rejecting Modi's claim, Tharoor said he heard after his return from Parliament that he had an agenda to shift the Kochi team to Abu Dhabi.

"Why should I take it to Dubai? I had referred to Dubai because there are a large number of Malayalees there and in the rest of the Gulf. There can be a possibility of an exhibition match. There is no question of my taking the Kochi team to Dubai," he said.

Modi also denied accusations that political pressure was put on investors to bid for the Ahmedabad franchise.

"There was no pressure from anybody. They went and met Mr Narendra Modi. He told them very clearly that you won this franchise for Kochi, so keep it to Kochi. They came to ask me to move it. They should have bid for Ahmedabad. They had the opportunity to bid for it."  
 

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After a day of intense attacks and an explanation, Shashi Tharoor's fate still hangs in balance. Top Congress leaders say they cannot comment on what action will be taken yet and any decision will come only once the Prime Minister returns.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be given the report of the ongoing Income Tax inquiry into the IPL fiasco so he may refer to it in arriving at a decision.

The Congress had told Tharoor, who tabled a statement on the Kochi IPL imbroglio, that he would have to defend himself in Parliament - a clear signal that the party wants to maintain its distance from the controversy.

Importantly, Tharoor made his statement as a member of Parliament, not a minister, which would make it easier for the government to dissociate from it if necessary.

The party is believed to be upset with Tharoor's Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Jacob Joseph for the manner in which he has handled the media and Tharoor has reportedly been asked to keep him in check. The Opposition too is using the aide to target Tharoor further, asking what Jacob was doing at the recent IPL auction.

Friday was not the best of days for the Junior Foreign Minister.

Shouted down by an Opposition that wants a statement only from the Prime Minister now, Shashi Tharoor read out a personal explanation on the Kochi IPL imbroglio outside Parliament after tabling it in the House. 
 
But not before both Houses of Parliament had been repeatedly adjourned, with a noisy Opposition demanding a full discussion and a statement from the Prime Minister instead. (Watch) Opposition members stormed the well, in no mood to listen to the minister. They demanded his immediate removal which prompted Speaker Meira Kumar to order Tharoor to lay the statement he was reading out.

The BJP and the Left are demanding that Tharoor be removed as Minister of State for External Affairs because of his link to the IPL Kochi team. The Opposition allowed no work in Parliament on Friday prompting Parliamantary Affairs Minister PK Bansal to angrily ask, "Does the Opposition even want Parliament to function?"
  
Tharoor's friend, Sunanda Pushkar, reported by some to be a romantic liaison, was gifted equity worth 70 crores by the consortium that bought the Kochi team last month for 1530 crores. Tharoor has been charged with using Pushkar as a front. (Read: Who is Sunanda Pushkar)

Tharoor sought to clear the air about his role in securing an IPL team for the Kochi franchise, and in the bargain, gave it a political and regional spin.

"The real motive behind the public controversy that has been created around me is to make the Kochi team unviable and to assign this IPL franchise to elsewhere than Kerala."

Tharoor said he was merely a cricket lover who wanted to see the sport flourish in his state, Kerala, and so "mentored" the Kochi IPL team. "I have neither invested nor received a rupee for my mentorship of the team," Tharoor said. And in an apparent reference to Puskar, he added: "Irrespective of my personal relationships with any of the consortium members, I have not benefitted, and do not intend to benefit, in any way financially from my association with the team now or at a later stage."

Tharoor attacked IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, with whom he is involved in a spat over the ownership of the Kochi IPL team, saying, "the game and the benefits accruing from it should not be retained only by an influential coterie with interests in a few privileged centres".

He said it was essential in democracy that institutions of interest to the general public are "run openly, rather than restricting their opportunities to a favoured few".

Tharoor rejected allegations that he had misused his official position. "No misuse of my official position was involved. The issue has nothing to do with my ministry. As a minister, I was in no position to influence the bid process, let alone its outcome," he said.

Shashi Tharoor's statement to Parliament on the IPL controversy was reviewed by his party ahead of his presenting it in Parliament.  Congress President Sonia Gandhi also met with other senior party leaders to discuss the Congress strategy on Tharoor.

On Friday morning, Tharoor met with senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee to share the draft of his statement for review. 
 

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Shouted down by an Opposition that wants a statement from the Prime Minister now, Junior Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor today read out a personal explanation on the Kochi IPL imbroglio outside Parliament after tabling it in the House. 

But not before both Houses of Parliament had been repeatedly adjourned following uproar over the issue, with a noisy Opposition demanding a full discussion and a statement from the Prime Minister instead. Opposition members stormed the well, in no mood to listen to the minister. They demanded his immediate removal which prompted Speaker Meira Kumar to order Tharoor to lay the statement he was reading out.

The BJP and the Left have been demanding that Tharoor be removed as Minister of State for External Affairs because of his link to the IPL Kochi team.
 
Tharoor's friend, Sunanda Pushkar, reported by some to be a romantic liaison, was gifted equity worth 70 crores by the consortium that bought the Kochi team last month for 1530 crores.  Tharoor has been charged with using Pushkar as a front.

The minister made clear he would not resign. He sought to clear the air about his role in securing an IPL team for the Kochi franchise, and in the bargain, gave it a political and regional spin.

"The real motive behind the public controversy that has been created around me is to make the Kochi team unviable and to assign this IPL franchise to elsewhere than Kerala."

Tharoor attacked IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, with whom he is involved in a spat over the ownership of the Kochi IPL team, saying, "the game and the benefits accruing from it should not be retained only by an influential coterie with interests in a few privileged centres".

He said it was essential in democracy that institutions of interest to the general public are "run openly, rather than restricting their opportunities to a favoured few".

Tharoor rejected allegations that he had misused his official position.

"No misuse of my official position was involved. The issue has nothing to do with my ministry. As a minister, I was in no position to influence the bid process, let alone its outcome," he said.

Shashi Tharoor's statement to Parliament on the IPL controversy was reviewed by his party ahead of his presenting it in Parliament.  Congress President Sonia Gandhi also met with other senior party leaders to discuss the Congress strategy on Tharoor.

On Friday morning, Tharoor met with senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee to share the draft of his statement for review.

The Congress had told Tharoor that he will have to defend himself in Parliament, signaling that the party wants to maintain its distance from the controversy.
 

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It was an offensive launched by him. But now, Lalit Modi runs the risk of turning into the biggest victim of his own war-strategy.

The Income Tax department has begun probing Modi after reports that have raised eyebrows on the source of funding of the Kochi IPL franchisee.

I-T officials conducted searches at three locations in Mumbai connected to IPL and Lalit Modi - IPL's office in South Mumbai, Lalit Modi's own office in South Central Mumbai, and at the hotel room he was occupying at the Four Seasons Hotel in the city.

Modi was first quizzed for over an hour from 1915 hours at Nirlon House in Worli area where his offices are located. A second team of I-T officials questioned him thereafter.

So have Income Tax authorities have not commented on the nature of the probe, but Modi said in a statement that it will "fully cooperate" with the Income Tax officials during the inquiry.

The slow simmer within the BCCI over Modi came full boil after Income Tax officials reached the IPL headquarters in Mumbai to inquire into the source of funding of the billion-dollar premier league. 

The IPL office is based at the BCCI's headquarters in Mumbai, where Modi has cultivated many enemies over the last few years because of his alleged politics, flamboyance and self-aggrandizement.

"There is an inquiry. It is not a raid. The IT officials are possibly looking for the details of the tender (for Kochi team). We will extend all possible cooperation to them," Modi said to PTI on Wednesday evening. (Read: IPL will fully cooperate, says Lalit Modi)

The need to examine the funding of the IPL arises after a week that has seen a series of allegation and counter-allegations between Modi and Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor.

Meanwhile, sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) tell NDTV that "Modi's wings will be clipped." Modi, who is the Commissioner and Chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be checked by Shashank Manohar, who is being promoted to Co-Chairman.

Manohar is currently the President of the BCCI.

The issue will be discussed when the BCCI working committee meets on the 24th of this month.

The battle led to so many accusations of inappropriate behaviour and proxy owners that the BJP christened this The Indian Corruption League. 

On Monday, Modi went public on twitter with allegations that the owners of the new Kochi team, sold last month for 1530 crores, had tried to evade sharing the details of their stakeholders. Modi said that a close associate of Tharoor's, Sunanda Pushkar, had been gifted equity worth 70 crores.  He also alleged that Tharoor had asked him not to probe Pushkar's stake. (Read: Tharoor meets Sonia Gandhi)

The revelations led to the Opposition demanding Tharoor's resignation for inappropriate patronage, and the Kochi team-owners threatening to sue Modi for breach of confidentiality.
Tharoor, to NDTV, said there was no question of resigning, that he had lobbied for an IPL team for Kerala because it is his home state, and that irrespective of his relationship with Pushkar, he had not and would not benefit financially from the deal. (Read: I won't quit, Tharoor to NDTV)

The last two days have seen new accusations emerge, involving political and powerful names. The Kochi team-owners have alleged that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi joined forces with the other Modi, asking them to walk away from their franchise. The Gujarat Cricket Association, of which Modi is the President, has emphatically denied this. Union Minister Sharad Pawar, who is the Bombay Cricket Association chief, was also drawn into the controversy by media reports that suggested he, too, had vested interests in ensuring the IPL franchise did not rest in Kochi. 

Sources in his camp, however, have told NDTV a very different chain of events. They say that after winning the bid, members of the Kochi consortium, led by a man named Harshad Mehta, asked if Pawar could help them move their franchise to Ahmedabad. Mehta's reasoning was that Kochi does not have an IPL-standard stadium, and the consortium would be unhappy with setting up base in towns like Gwalior or Indore which may have better stadia, but will not be able to deliver large volumes of ticket sales to matches. Pawar's aides insist that he told them he would not intervene, and that he confirmed the same to Tharoor on the phone, who, in turn, thanked him.  

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Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, together with Lalit Modi, pressured the owners of the Kochi Indian Premier League (IPL) to give up their cricket franchise. That's the new allegation made on Thursday by the spokesperson for the Rendezvous Sports World, which owns the Kochi team.

Spokesperson Satyajit Gaekwad claims that the Gujarat chief minister joined IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi in suggesting that the group surrender its franchise.  He did not, however, back his claims with details of when he met the Gujarat chief minister, or where.

And a Gujarat government denial was swift in coming. The allegation is baseless said Amit Shah, Home Minister, Gujarat, insisting that the "Gujarat cricket association is not involved."

The Kochi team has, however, denied allegations that a well-known ex-cricketer has free proxy ownership in the franchise. Sources have told NDTV that allegations have now surfaced about an ex-cricketer owning free equity in the team.

On Wednesday, CEO for the same group, Shailender Gaekwad, accused Lalit Modi of offering them 50 million dollars to abandon their bid.  Lalit Modi has denied offering the group any sort of money. (Read: Modi offered us 50 million dollars to sell team,say Kochi owners)

The group bought the team last month for 1530 crores.  The deal has created a gigantic controversy because of its link with Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs.  Lalit Modi tweeted earlier this week that 70 crores of equity was gifted to Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of Tharoor. 

The Opposition has demanded that Tharoor be sacked for criminal misconduct by a public servant.

Tharoor, speaking exclusively to NDTV, asserted that there is no question of resigning. The Prime Minister has said on record that he will evaluate the situation when he returns from his trip to the US and Brazil. (Read: Congress will talk Tharoor only once PM is back)

The Kochi team, like Tharoor, has said that Lalit Modi did not want their bid to succeed because he wanted an Ahmedabad team to win the franchise.

The Income Tax department has begun investigating the source of funds for the Kochi consortium. Lalit Modi continues to insist that the exact detail of the shareholders and their stake remains unclear.

Rendezvous denies this, and has said on Thursday that along with their details, the government should ask for the ownership details of all IPL teams to be made public.
 

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enormous ash cloud from a remote Icelandic volcano caused the biggest flight disruption since the 2001 terrorist attacks as it drifted over northern Europe and stranded travelers on six continents. Officials said it could take days for the skies to become safe again in one of aviation's most congested areas.

The cloud, floating miles (kilometers) above Earth and capable of knocking out jet engines, wrecked travel plans for tens of thousands of people Thursday, from tourists and business travelers to politicians and royals. They couldn't see the source of their frustration -- except indirectly, when the ash created vivid red and lavender sunsets.

Non-emergency flights in Britain were canceled, and most will stay grounded until at least midday Friday. Authorities in Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Belgium also closed their air space. France shut down 24 airports, including the main hub of Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Germany's Berlin and Hamburg were shut Thursday evening, and several flights out of the US had to double back. Kyla Evans, spokeswoman for air traffic service Eurocontrol, said half of all trans-Atlantic flights were expected to be canceled Friday.

At London's Heathrow airport, normally one of the world's busiest with more than 1,200 flights and 180,000 travelers a day, passengers stared forlornly at departure boards on which every flight was listed as canceled. "We made it all the way to takeoff on the plane. ... They even showed us the safety video," said Sarah Davis, 29, a physiotherapist from Portsmouth in southern England who was hoping to fly to Los Angeles. "I'm upset. I only get so much vacation."

A volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH'-plah-yer-kuh-duhl) glacier began erupting Wednesday for the second time in less than a month, triggering floods and shooting smoke and steam miles into the air. Video showed spectacular images of hot gases melting the thick ice, sending cascades of water thundering down the steep slopes of the volcano.

About 700 people from rural areas near the volcano were evacuated Thursday because of flash flooding, as water carrying icebergs the size of small houses rushed down the mountain. Most evacuees were allowed to return home after the floods subsided, but more flash floods are expected as long as the volcano keeps erupting, said Rognvaldur Olafsson of the Civil Protection Department.

The ash cloud became a menace to air travel as it drifted south and east toward northern Europe -- including Britain, about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) away. The ash plume drifted at between 20,000 feet and 36,000 feet (6,000 meters and 11,000 meters), where it could get sucked into airplane engines and cause them to shut down. The smoke and ash also could affect aircraft visibility.

Britain's air traffic service said early Friday it was extending a ban on most air traffic until 7 p.m. local time Friday, but flights to Scotland and Northern Ireland, and North Atlantic flights to and from Glasgow, Prestwick and Belfast airports may be allowed until 1 p.m. local time. The agency said Britain had not halted all flights in its space in living memory, although many were grounded after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. "People can't remember a time when it has been on this scale," said Patrick Horwood of the air traffic service. "Certainly never involving a volcano."

Eurocontrol spokeswoman Evans said the ash had led to the cancellation of about 4,000 flights within Europe Thursday, and that could rise to 6,000 Friday. Several US flights bound for Heathrow, including those from Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas and New York, had to return to their departure cities or land elsewhere when London airports were closed. Canadian airlines also canceled some Europe-bound flights.

In Washington, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was working with airlines to try to reroute some flights around the huge ash cloud, which is hundreds of miles wide. Flights from Asia, Africa, South America, Australia and the Middle East to Heathrow and other top European hubs were also put on hold.

Australia's Qantas airline said it had some 1,700 passengers grounded Friday from five flights - about 1,000 passengers stranded in Singapore, and 350 each in Hong Kong and Bangkok. New Zealand's national carrier Air New Zealand warned travelers flying to Europe to defer their plans Friday, as it canceled two flights through London and diverted a third to Germany.

In Britain, the closures curtailed some campaigning for the May 6 national election. Monarchs from Norway and the Netherlands traveling to a 70th birthday celebration for Denmark's Queen Margrethe found their plans up in the air. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt resorted to driving home to Sweden from Brussels. "We'll arrive sometime tomorrow," his spokeswoman Irena Busic said.

Eurostar train services to France and Belgium and Channel ferries were packed as travelers sought ways out of Britain. P&O ferries said it had booked a passenger on its Dover-Calais route who was trying to get to Beijing -- he hoped to fly from Paris instead of London.

It was unclear whether the ash cloud would affect the arrival of President Barack Obama and other world leaders planning to attend the state funeral Sunday of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash. Polish authorities banned flights over part of northwestern Poland late Thursday, the country's PAP news agency reported. The funeral is to be held in Krakow, in southeastern Poland.
The Icelandic plume lies above the Atlantic Ocean close to the flight paths for most routes from the U.S. East Coast to Europe, and over northern Europe itself.

Meteorologists from the AccuWeather forecasting service in the U.S. said the current ash plume will threaten air travel over Europe through Sunday at the least. Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said the problem might persist for weeks, depending on how much wind carries the ash.

Explosive volcanic eruptions inject large amounts of highly abrasive ash -- essentially very small rock fragments -- into the upper atmosphere, the cruising altitude of most jet airliners. It can cause significant damage to both airframes and engines. Health protection officials in Britain said some of the ash will fall to ground level overnight -- starting in Scotland before moving south -- although Britain's weather forecasters said the public should not be concerned.

The US Geological Survey said about 100 aircraft have run into volcanic ash from 1983 to 2000. In some cases engines shut down briefly after sucking in volcanic debris, but there have been no fatal incidents.
In 1989, a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747 flew into an ash cloud from Alaska's Redoubt volcano and lost all power, dropping from 25,000 feet to 12,000 feet (7,500 meters to 3,600) before the crew could get the engines restarted. The plane landed safely.

In another incident in the 1980s, a British Airways 747 flew into a dust cloud and the grit sandblasted the windscreen. The pilot had to stand and look out a side window to land safely. Gideon Ewers, spokesman for the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations, attributed the extent of the disruption to amount of air traffic in the area where the plume was drifting. "Normally, these volcanic eruptions affect air travel in areas of thin traffic such as the Aleutian islands in Alaska, or in Indonesia and the Philippines," he said.

Ironically, Iceland's Keflavik airport remained open Thursday. Flights to Europe were canceled but those to North America were operating normally. Iceland, a nation of 320,000 people, sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge, and has a history of devastating eruptions 
 

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In an unprecedented case of human sacrifice, the beheaded body of a 35-year-old man was found outside a temple of Goddess Kali this morning about 6 km from Bolpur in West Bengal's Birbhum district.

The body was found outside the temple by the priest who went there for prayers around 5 am. The temple is two km away from the nearest village called Donaipur.

Police arrived around 9 am. A man called Lalmohan Hansda of Donaipur village has been detained for the human sacrifice. Sniffer dogs used by police led to Hansda's house.

Confirming a case of human sacrifice, SDPO Bolpur Kalyan Mukherjee said the victim is not a local man.

According to Chandan Mukherjee, the priest of the Kajjala Kali Mandir, he had performed puja at the temple till about 9 last night. When he returned this morning, he saw a body lying just outside the temple.

When a closer look revealed the man had been beheaded, the scared priest ran to the nearest village for help. Inside the temple were some burnt incense sticks and blood splattered near the idol of the goddess.  
 

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Commonwealth Games gold medallist shooter Pemba Tamang was stopped by immigration officials in Mumbai from boarding a flight to Beijing as his passport had the "invalid" stapled visa, which China issues to the Indians from Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.
    
Tamang, a resident of Arunachal, was last night going to Beijing for International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup, to be held from April 17 to 24.
    
The Rapid Fir pistol shooter said he was not aware of the fact that the Ministry of External Affairs had declared stapled visas as invalid for travelling out of the country in an advisory issued last year in November.
    
"I had travelled to China on a paper visa on three previous occasions and I wasn't aware that the government had declared them invalid. If I had known, I would not have accepted the visa when it was issued to me," Tamang told PTI.
    
Recalling the sequence of events in Mumbai, Tamang, who is part of a 28-member team for the World Cup, said he was stopped by the immigration after checking in.
    
"We were boarding the flight from Mumbai for the World Cup. We were first supposed to go to Bangkok and from there to Beijing. Immigration officials told me that my visa was not valid as the government does not accept stapled visas.
    
"I tried to explain that I had travelled on such a visa three times earlier but they said the new guidelines don't allow it anymore," he said from Pune.
    
Tamang, however, can still make the World Cup if he is issued a fresh pasted visa.
    
"I may still go because my event is on April 21 and 22. Immigration people told me that if the Indian Embassy in China issues a letter relaxing the conditions then there is a slim possibility of me going," he said.
    
Reacting to the controversy, the National Rifles Association of India's secretary Rajeev Bhatia said, "He was issued a paper visa because he is from Arunachal while the rest of the team got the normal pasted visas."
    
"It is true that he has travelled to China in the past on a stapled visa but the government guidelines right now prohibit that. Now, he won't go unless he gets the normal visa," he added.
    
Last year, the External Affairs Ministry had slammed China for issuing separate visas "to certain categories of Indian nationals on the basis of their domicile, ethnicity and/or place of issue of the passport.
    
"All Indian citizens intending to travel to China are advised that before making any travel arrangements they should first ascertain from the Chinese embassy or consulate, whether the visa being issued to them will be affixed to the passport or will be in the nature of a stapled paper visa, so that they are not inconvenienced or put to any financial loss later on this count," the ministry had said. 
 

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