Tweeting politician lost for words

For once, the Twitter account of the sleek and urbane Shashi Tharoor has fallen silent.

Three whole days have elapsed since the senior United Nations official-turned Indian politician and best-selling novelist sent a message.

His last post read: "Thanks for all the support & good wishes. U folks are the new India. We will 'be the change' we wish to see in our country. But not w'out pain!"

His words were prophetic.

Amid allegations that he had improperly used his position as India's junior Foreign Minister for personal ends in a cricket tournament deal, the 54-year-old has been forced to take the "pain" and resign from the Government.

After a series of meetings with senior Congress Party leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it became clear there was little appetite to defend a man who appeared to be unable to avoid controversy - much of it related to his love of Twitter.

Tharoor, once considered for the post of United Nations Secretary-General, is the most popular "tweeter" in India with more than 700,000 followers.

When he was made a minister last year after returning from New York and being elected MP for the state of Kerala, he made it clear he intended to shake up the traditional, bureaucratic and rather stuffy way of doing politics in India.

He saw Twitter as a means of reaching out to a new, young, educated category of Indians who might not normally bother with politics.

But his Tweets - and his perhaps Westernised sense of humour - were misunderstood, sometimes by some of his own party.

Last year when Congress leader Sonia Gandhi told ministers they could no longer fly business class, to cut costs, Tharoor posted a message to say he too was "travelling cattle class in solidarity with all our holy cows".

Many of his fans thought it was a pretty good joke but some senior Congress figures believed Tharoor, who has never lacked self-confidence, had become too smug.

Further rows included a Twitter posting that he disagreed with the Government's visa policy.

At other times he used the 140-character missives to berate the media for trying to find controversy where he believed none existed.

Singh called him to his official residence on Monday and told him the Government required his resignation.

The prelude to this decision also involved postings on Twitter - though on this occasion not Tharoor's.

Pressure had been building on the junior minister since the news broke that a female friend - widely said by the Indian media to be his girlfriend - was given a free stake in a new team that is to participate in the popular and hugely lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament.

It was claimed the US$15 million ($21.15 million) payment was made as compensation for Tharoor's "mentoring" of the consortium behind the team, to be based in Kerala.

Sunanda Pushkar, the Dubai-based businesswoman given the stake in the new team in Kochi, said she would give up any involvement and return her financial stake. But by then it was much too late for Tharoor.

Ten days ago IPL boss Lalit Modi, also a highly controversial figure, leaked the information on Twitter.

Tharoor tried to defend himself, turning to the micro-blogging site to dismiss the claims by Modi, whose actions could yet lead to disciplinary action.

Cricket's regulators are concerned that the IPL boss revealed supposedly confidential information.

Tharoor, a very successful author whose works include a tome about India-Pakistan cricket matches, may now again have more time for writing.

He insisted there was no wrong-doing on his part but his claims appeared unconvincing.

The Government, its feathers already ruffled by the minister's tweets, was no longer prepared to leave itself open to attack from the political opposition.

Many of Tharoor's supporters have rallied to his aid online. Several pages on social-networking sites have been set up to back him.

But in an insightful analysis of the affair, veteran journalist M.J. Akbar said: "Tharoor's misfortune was to encounter an adversary who could out-Twitter him at high noon in the gunfight at IPL corral.

Tharoor and Lalit Modi have more in common than sharp suits, sharp wits and a dogged commitment to the television cameras.

Having achieved so much through effective use of the media, they were convinced their favourite weapon remained the best option.

"A veteran ... would have told them, had they but asked, that children in glasshouse nurseries shouldn't throw stones."

- INDEPENDENT