Shashi Tharoor Apologises For Wrongly Tweeting About Sumitra Mahajan's Health

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor apologised for a tweet where he mistakenly expressed condolences to the family of former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan

Shashi Tharoor | PTI

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor issued an apology to former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and her family for wrongly claiming her death on social media. Tharoor took to social media and said that he spoke to Sumitra Mahajan's son and apologised for his mistake.

Shashi Tharoor on Thursday wrote a tweet stating that Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has passed away. Turns out, the news was false and the matter was soon clarified by BJP's National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.

"Saddened to learn of the passing of former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. I remember many positive interactions with her, including when she &the late Sushma Swaraj asked me to lead a Parliamentary delegation to BRICS in Moscow. My condolences to her family and prayers: OmShanti!," he wrote.

However, the matter was clarified soon after by Kailash Vijayvargiya who responded to the tweet by writing: "Taai is absolutely fine! May God bless her with a long life".

Acknowledging the gaffe, Congress MP from Kerala deleted his tweet and thanked Kailash Vijayvargiya for the clarification. 

"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.