This Article is From Apr 23, 2021

"Relieved...": Why Shashi Tharoor Deleted Tweet On BJP's Sumitra Mahajan

Shashi Tharoor later said he was relieved that Sumitra Mahajan is doing fine and said he banked on "a reliable source" for puttingout his tweet.

'Relieved...': Why Shashi Tharoor Deleted Tweet On BJP's Sumitra Mahajan

Shashi Tharoor had put out the tweet last night.

Indore/ New Delhi:

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had to delete one of his tweets where he had condoled the death of former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Thursday night after BJP leaders pointed out that she was healthy.

Mr Tharoor later said he was relieved that Ms Mahajan is doing fine and said he banked on "a reliable source" for putting out his tweet.

"I am relieved if that is so. I received this from what I thought was a reliable source.... Happy to retract and appalled that anyone would make up such news," he said in a tweet while replying to a message that she was fine.

"How am I sounding?...I am as healthy as my voice," Ms Mahajan told a reporter, who called up to enquire about her health after Mr Tharoor's tweet.

The former Lok Sabha speaker's son Mandar put out a video clip, saying his mother is perfectly fine and urging people not to reply on false news being spread about her.

"My mother is perfectly fine. Please do not rely on false news being spread about her. Her COVID report is negative. I met her only in the evening and she is healthy," he said in the video.

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted back to Mr Tharoor, informing him that Mahajan is perfectly healthy.

"Mahajan was admitted to the Bombay hospital in Indore on Wednesday after she had mild fever. She is fine now and does not have fever. She was also tested for COVID and her RT-PCR report has come negative," Rajesh Aggarwal, a close aide of the former Lok Sabha speaker, told PTI.

Ms Mahajan (78) was the Lok Sabha speaker from 2014 to 2019. She had earlier represented the Indore Lok Sabha constituency in Parliament for eight terms.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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