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The Pakistani lady caught up in the Tharoors' tiff

January 16, 2014 14:24 IST

Shashi Tharoor may be living out many men's fantasy.

Two beautiful women are, apparently, fighting for his affections.

And India's minister for Human Resource Development sure doesn't seem too thrilled about it.

A very public love triangle was played out on Twitter among the People's Rep for rather staid Thiruvanathapuram, his flamboyant wife Sunanda Pushkar and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar.

Pushkar, Tharoor's biwi number teen, first accused her 'stupid' (this is a brilliant man who got a PhD at 23!) husband of having an affair with Tarar and declared her intentions of divorcing him.

Then, she set the world of Twitter on fire when she posted rather explicit messages allegedly sent to Dr Tharoor by Tarar on the social networking site.

'I love you, Shashi Tharoor. And I go while in love with you, irrevocably, irreversibly, hamesha. Bleeding, but always your Mehr,' says one of them.

When a squirming Dr Tharoor claimed his account had been hacked, Pushkar claimed that Tarar was an agent of Pakistan's infamous Inter Services Intelligence.

So who is this Pakistani lovely?

Ms T, a former journalist at Pakistan's Daily Times newspaper, met Dr T for the first time when she interviewed the freshly-minted politician.

'It was a pleasure to meet him. His views as a politician fascinated me,' Ms T admitted.

Today, she describes herself as a 'housewife and a mother'.

She is an avid member of the Twitterati club and posts regular tweets about her interactions with her son, her current assignments and whatever music catches her fancy.

While she initially refused to get dragged into the fight, a furious Ms T later dismissed Mrs T's charges and threatened to sue the scorned wife over the allegations.

'Becoming an ISI agent is not that easy. And how can I stalk him when I am in another country?' Ms T asked.

She also tweeted up a storm since the saga started playing out on social media, shooting off uncharitable barbs at Mrs T and defending herself.
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'The blonde's aqal is weaker than her grammar & spellings. From an 'affair' it has become 'stalking'..make up yr mind, darlin'. Which one is it,' she wrote.

Another tweet read, 'For a woman to trash another woman linking her w/her husband is the lowest form of sickness ever. It's nauseous. No respect for her marriage.'

The plot got curiouser when Dr T and his missus released a joint statement on Thursday, January 16, saying, 'We wish to stress that we are happily married and intend to remain that way. Sunanda has been ill and hospitalised this week and is seeking to rest.'

There, the matter rests for now! Until Dr T sails into another storm...

Image: Mehr Tarar

A Correspondent in New Delhi