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Dubai friends to Tharoor's rescue
Updated On: 21 April, 2010 07:48 AM IST | | Shashank Shekhar
Shashi Tharoor's friends in Dubai came up with the idea of a website to support him over a hot cuppa
Shashi Tharoor's friends in Dubai came up with the idea of a website to support him over a hot cuppa
Falling out of favour with the government and party, after consistently embarrassing both by his tweets and
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| In the line of fire: A file pic of Shashi Tharoor |
The former minister of state for external affairs, who attracted a lot of publicity for his comments on micro-blogging website Twitter has a whopping 7.3 lakh people following him. So, while the whole Opposition, including the BJP and Mandal satraps were baying for his blood, friends based in Dubai were deciding on the course to save him, over a cup of coffee.
Shiraz Gidwani, Chief Executive of Dubai-based Iktara World has launched the "Save Shashi Tharoor" campaign on various social networking websites and a dedicated site with the same name in support of the beleaguered Kerala politician.
"SupportTharoor.org was born when ardent supporters and friends of Tharoor sat together over coffee and pondered over the fate of a Member of Parliament and Union Minister who had made sincere efforts to reach out to the people of India with his thoughts," Gidwani told MiD DAY over the phone from Dubai.
"The objective was to gift Shashi Tharoor a collection of beautiful thoughts and comments by people who now wish to reach out to him.
At 2130 IST on Saturday March 17, 2010 the idea was born. Roles were divided and friends pooled together their contacts. It should be noted that even at that late hour, every person that was approached offered his or her support and services. As time was of the essence, a professional social networking firm known to the founders was brought on board to help design and implement the concept," Gidwani said, elaborating on how the website came into being.
"Work began on the project at 0000 IST on Sunday March 18 and after working overnight (spanning several countries, continents and multiple designers and operators) we were through by 2000 IST, the same day. This included registering and hosting the domain, as well as propagating the servers. The support page was released at 2030 IST on Sunday March 18, 2010," Gidwani, who has worked with Tharoor at the UN, said giving specifics
| Speechless |
| Shashi Tharoor has not tweeted for almost four days. His last tweet came 48 hours before he quit as a union minister following the IPL row. The former Minister of State for External Affairs, who had earlier apologised for not tweeting for two days, has this time deserted the microblogging site for over 90 hours without a word. However, the number of followers has been increasing by the day, as reported by MiD DAY on Monday. How do you like the new new mid-day.com experience? Share your feedback and help us improve. Read Next Story Trending StoriesLatest Photos |
