Designation Twist: Sushma Swaraj back as 'Foreign Minister' on Twitter
New Delhi, July 22: In the backdrop of the controversy related to former IPL chairman and scam-tainted Lalit Modi and the opposition's demand to oust Sushma Swaraj as the External Affairs Minister, there was something amiss from the official Twitter account of Swaraj on Wednesday.
But after a brief disappearance of her designation, Sushma was back as the 'Foreign Minister' on the micro-blogging website.
"Foreign Minister, Government Of India, New Delhi" was missing from the bio of Swaraj, who is currently in the eye of political storm.
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.
In an attempt to clear the air, a foreign ministry spokesperson told NDTV, "The Twitter account is Mrs Swaraj's personal one, she keeps changing her bio as per her wish."
Since the time Lalit Modi controversy broke out in the media, Swaraj has been active in telling her side of the story via her Twitter account.
Earlier in the day, Swaraj revealed that a senior Congress leader had pressed her hard to give diplomatic passport to a scam accused Congress leader. [Sushma Swaraj's tweet bomb: Congress leader wanted me to help Coal scam accused]
Last month, it was reported that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj offered to resign almost a week before the controversy broke out over her help to former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi in getting travel documents on "humanitarian ground", but her offer was rejected on the intervention of the RSS.
Sources said that Swaraj had clarified her stand on the issue and said she was ready to resign as she did not want the government to face any embarrassment. [Lalit Modi row: Sushma Swaraj offered to quit a week before controversy broke]
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 said.
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.
As of now, the government has ruled out her resignation or of others in the line of the opposition fire.
Here are some tweets:
ROFL
"@AMadumoole:
LoL
!
@SushmaSwaraj
is
reinstated
as
Foreign
Minister
after
Twitter
mocking.
Ok,
now
resign."
—
Shabbir
Ahmed
(@Ahmedshabbir20)
July
22,
2015
What's
happening?
Foreign
minister
keeps
changing
her
bio;)
pic.twitter.com/2AIr5dt6lJ
—
Anshu
Chhibber
(@AnshuChhibber)
July
22,
2015
I
think
PM
Narendra
Modi
must
himself
become
the
Foreign
Minister
instead
of
Sushma
Swaraj
considering
he
spends
most
of
his
time
abroad.
😂
—
Gautam
Trivedi
(@Gotham3)
July
22,
2015
"Sushma
Swaraj
again
adds
Foreign
Minister
on
Twitter"
Pehle
wale
Foreign
Minister
ki
kya
Spelling
galat
thi.
—
Swami
(@mohitraj)
July
22,
2015
Dear
@SushmaSwaraj
,
we
know
you
are
"foreign"
to
ur
PM
but
ur
correct
portfolio
is
"Minister
of
External
Affairs",
not
Foreign
Minister.
—
Abdulla
Madumoole
(@AMadumoole)
July
22,
2015
Why
has
Sushma
Swaraj
removed
‘Foreign
Minister’
from
her
Twitter
bio?
http://t.co/kTpARLEJYL
—
Electiondestiny
(@Electiondestiny)
July
22,
2015
looking
at
Sushma
Swarajs'
Twitter
feed
and
the
promptness
of
her
replies
to
people
in
need
makes
me
hope
that
she
stays
Foreign
Minister
—
Aniket
Rao
(@aniketrao92)
July
22,
2015
Sushma
removes
Foreign
Minister
from
her
Bio.Opposition,
instead
of
asking
for
her
resig
are
now
asking
why
she
removed
Foreign
Min
from
bio
—
Eshwar
(@eshwarchandra)
July
22,
2015
Sushma
Swaraj
changes
her
Twitter
Bio.
Not
a
foreign
minister
anymore?:
Swaraj's
bio
on
twitter
no
longer
ment...
http://t.co/1GdWgjDKRn
—
Ajinkya
Ambre
(@Axelfinance)
July
22,
2015
If
@SushmaSwaraj
resigns
then
India
will
loose
a
good
and
pro-active
foreign
minister.
She
is
one
of
her
kind,
the
country
needs
her.
—
शरीफ
बच्चा
\^o^/
(@TheRaviKeshri)
July
22,
2015
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