NEW DELHI (AFP) - India's top-tweeting minister scrambled to save his career on Thursday after his wife exposed his alleged adultery on Twitter and revived a cricket scandal that led him to resign from cabinet in 2010.
The damaging quarrel began late Wednesday when a curious series of messages appeared on the Twitter account of suave thrice-married human resources minister Shashi Tharoor, seen by his two million followers.
They showed private exchanges purportedly between the 57-year-old (@shashitharoor) and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar (@mehrtarar), in which she professed her love for him and he said his wife had discovered his affair.
Mr Tharoor quickly responded by saying his account had been "hacked", but furious wife Sunanda spoke to two newspapers overnight confirming herself as the author of the messages. "Our accounts have not been hacked and I have been sending out these tweets," Ms Sunanda told the Economic Times, adding to the Indian Express that she "100 percent" stood by the messages.
Ms Tarar denied having an affair with the former high-flying UN diplomat.
Mr Tharoor had to resign from his first ministerial post after revelations that then-girlfriend Ms Sunanda had been given a free stake in a new Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team.
The damaging quarrel began late Wednesday when a curious series of messages appeared on the Twitter account of suave thrice-married human resources minister Shashi Tharoor, seen by his two million followers.
They showed private exchanges purportedly between the 57-year-old (@shashitharoor) and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar (@mehrtarar), in which she professed her love for him and he said his wife had discovered his affair.
Mr Tharoor quickly responded by saying his account had been "hacked", but furious wife Sunanda spoke to two newspapers overnight confirming herself as the author of the messages. "Our accounts have not been hacked and I have been sending out these tweets," Ms Sunanda told the Economic Times, adding to the Indian Express that she "100 percent" stood by the messages.
Ms Tarar denied having an affair with the former high-flying UN diplomat.
Mr Tharoor had to resign from his first ministerial post after revelations that then-girlfriend Ms Sunanda had been given a free stake in a new Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team.
