Sushma Swaraj back on Twitter as 'foreign minister'

Sushma Swaraj set social media agog with speculation that the external affairs minister 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 set social media agog with speculation that the external affairs minister 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. “The Twitter account is Swaraj's personal one, she keeps changing her bio as per her wish," said the ministry official.

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.

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.

Swaraj is active on Twitter and on Wednesday, she alleged that a Congress leader had pressured her to issue a diplomatic passport to former minister of state Santosh Bagrodia, an accused in the coal scam.

She has also used Twitter in the past to clarify on foreign policy issues in the new, to respond to charges levelled against her and to extend a helping hand to Indians facing problems in foreign countries.

Changes made to Swaraj’s bio can be tracked at the website bioischanged.com