External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is known to be the queen of Twitter, but in her latest interaction with AIUDF Chief Baduruddin Ajmal, she seems to have faltered.
After India voted in favour of a resolution in the UN General Assembly that rejected President Donald Trump’s (and Israel’s) acceptance of Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, Ajmal tweeted this:
Sushma replied saying:
Now, just when this was looking like a Twitter win for Swaraj, Badruddin replied with a polite ‘no’.
Now, just to jog your memory, AIUDF or the All India United Democratic Front is a regional party in Assam led by Badruddin Ajmal, which holds considerable sway in the state, especially in the Muslim-dominated constituencies. The party refused to side with either the Congress or the BJP in the crucial 2016 Assam elections. The BJP came to power with a popular mandate in that election, maintaining throughout its campaign that there was “secret pact” between the Congress and AIUDF. On the other hand, there were also rumours of a post-poll alliance between BJP and AIUDF at the time, but that too fell through the cracks.
In 2017, the AIUDF and Badruddin have expressed their desires to ally with the Congress for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While Sushma’s response seemed an attempt at changing that, Badruddin seems to have dashed all hopes. At least for now.
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