Headlines
After brief mystery, Sushma back on Twitter as 'foreign minister'
New Delhi, July 22
Is she quitting? Social media was agog with speculation that External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj may be thinking of quitting over the
Lalit Modi episode after she deleted 'Foreign Minister, Government of
India' from her Twitter bio. The bio was back on Wednesday afternoon.
Sushma
Swaraj, who tweets from the handle @SushmaSwaraj, had apparently
deleted the words 'Foreign Minister, Government of India', from her
handle some time after her name was linked with former IPL commissioner
Lalit Modi, who is accused of financial impropriety.
Sushma
Swaraj has admitted to helping Modi with travel documents to go from
Britain, where he is now staying, to Portugal for treatment of his
cancer-stricken wife. Modi has been charged by the Enforcement
Directorate with alleged corruption and is wanted for questioning in
India. He has been staying in Britain since 2010.
According to
sources in the external affairs ministry, Sushma Swaraj may have deleted
the words because she wanted to keep the Twitter handle as a personal
one, and not as an official one.
She deleted the words after the Lalit Modi controversy erupted, the sources told IANS.
Sushma
Swaraj has been making several personal comments on Twitter after the
Lalit Modi episode broke out, including taking potshots at a media
personality.
The minister would not have been able to make
personal comments from an official Twitter handle, was the argument in
official circles.
However, by late Wednesday afternoon, the bio was back.
"Ok. Sushma Swaraj is reappointed as India's Foreign minister in twitter," commented one Twitter user.
"Why
did Sushma Swaraj remove Foreign Minister from her Twitter Bio ? PM
Modi will handle kya ? Wid the no. of Foreign tours, its feasible!"
contemplated another.
On Wednesday morning, she tweeted: "A
senior Congress leader was pressing me hard to give diplomatic passport
to the Coal Scam accused Santosh Bagrodia. I will disclose name of the
leader on the floor of the House."
On Tuesday, she had tweeted:
"I am ready for a debate today itself. I asked Shri Arun Jaitley to
convey this to Rajya Sabha. Shri Arun Jaitley has conveyed this to the
House. We are looking forward to the Opposition's response."
The government has ruled out her resignation or of others in the line of the opposition fire.