Minister of state Shashi Tharoor referred to “close friend” Sunanda Pushkar as a “reputed business professional and entrepreneur with a long track record of business success”, and alleged that she was being made out to be a “front” for him only because of her gender. But a Mail Today report says that the Dubai-based executive has no entrepreneurial record to write home about.
According to the report, the initial stories on Pushkar indicated that she ran Spa Duniya in Dubai. Both her lawyer, Ashok Mehta, and the spa's management have, however, denied that she had anything to do with it.
Pushkar's name was also linked with the Angsana chain of spas. But when contacted by Mail Today, the Banyan Tree Group — which runs the international chain — denied she was ever a franchisee for them. Ashish Mehta, Pushkar's Dubai-based lawyer, claims that reports of his client being a beautician are false — and suggests that they possibly referred to her beauty. He also denies that she is a socialite.
Sources in Dubai confirm that Pushkar, who went by the name ‘Sue', was virtually unknown till she got linked with Shashi Tharoor. If anything, she's remembered as a hanger-on at the Dubai Fashion Week and Page 3 parties in the emirate, the report said. She would occasionally get photographed with the rich and the beautiful set.
All that is known about Pushkar's career graph — which Mehta insists includes 20 years of managerial experience — is that the last job she held was at Tecom Investments, a subsidiary of Dubai Holding that deals in commercial real estate in the knowledge sector.
Though the company refused to share remuneration details for her position — that of a sales manager — sources in Dubai said she wasn't serving the company in a “great position” and couldn't have earned more than 15,000 to 20,000 dirhams (Rs 1.8 to Rs 2.4 lakh at present exchange rates), which makes her comfortably placed but certainly not rich.
