As He Attacks Modi Government, Kejriwal Pauses To Praise One Minister

Minutes after he attacked the Modi government this morning, demanding an apology for Uttarakhand, Arvind Kejriwal had much praise for one of its ministers, Sushma Swaraj.

Both assessments were delivered in tweets, three minutes apart.”Sushmaji is doing excellent work,” said the Delhi chief minister, reacting to reports that a marine engineer abducted by pirates near Nigeria in March has been rescued.

External  Affairs Minister Ms Swaraj, who had continuously reassured Mr Bharadwaj’s wife in tweets about the progress in rescue efforts, tweeted today, “I am extremely happy to inform that Shri Santosh Bhardwaj has been rescued from pirates in Nigeria.” She attached a picture of the engineer’s wife, Kanchan.

Mr Kejriwal has directed a fusillade of taunts and critical remarks at the Centre ever since it was clear on Tuesday that the Congress’ Harish Rawat has won a trust vote in the Uttarakhand assembly.

The BJP-ruled Centre acknowledged Mr Rawat’s victory in the Supreme Court today and said it would lift the President’s Rule it had controversially imposed in the state. The court has ordered the immediate reinstatement of Mr Rawat as chief minister.

Mr Kejriwal has called it a “huge setback” for the Modi government.Praise from political rivals is not new for Ms Swaraj. In the Lok Sabha recently, several opposition leaders praised her efforts to help Indians around the world.

“I want to thank Sushma Swaraj ji. She is doing an exceptionally good job to save our people abroad,” said Bhagwant Mann of Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party.”As a minister, her response has been outstanding,” Baijayant Panda of the Biju Janata Dal had added.