MoS Human Resource Development (HRD) Shashi Tharoor has not only made a comeback to the Cabinet, he is back on Twitter with a bang. As promised, he has taken to Twitter with a vengeance!

A day after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi hit Tharoor below the belt and taunted him, calling his wife a Rs 50 crore girlfriend, Tharoor has given a befitting reply in his own inimitable style.

Shashi Tharoor tweeted,"My wife is worth a lot more than your imaginary 50 crores. She is priceless. But you need2be able2love some1 2understand that."

Modi was making a reference to the allegations of Tharoor actively negotiating the "sweat equity" for Sunanda Pushkar, now his wife for the Kochi IPL team in 2010.

Modi was referring to the value of the sweat equity Tharoor allegedly negotiated for Sunanda Pushkar (now his wife) from the Kochi team - a controversy that cost Tharoor his place in the government.

Tharoor has often been in controversy over his tweets especially his cattle class tweet which came at a time when Congress was pushing for austerity.

The mud-slinging match

Now it seems Tharoor is not taking things lying down and has hit back at Modi for his barb about Sunanda, playing both a political card and the emotional card.

This is not the first time that Twitter has become a battleground for celebrities to fling mud at each other and Tharoor's tweet is the latest salvo in the back and forth verbal war between the two politicians.

Their cyber battle dates back to a time when Tharoor commented that although Modi had a million followers on Twitter, not all of them were his supporters.

And on expected lines, Tharoor's tweet has taken the twittersphere by storm. Here are the gems:

calamur @calamur
@shashitharoor nicely said. Glad to see a politician stand up for his significant other:)

Deepa Mehta @IamDeepaMehta
@ShashiTharoor Way to go Shashi . Good news is@narendramodi must feel very threatened by u to be reduced to such juvenile jibes.

Shreeharsha Perla @harshaperla
Yes, Modi was wrong while calling 50 crore girlfriend. It was 70 crores!

Karthik Srinivasan @beastoftraal
'50-crore-rupee girlfriend' is the new '150 Cr firework (fizzle)'.

Akash Gautam ‏@akash_vaani
For everyone else ; I use a MASTERCARD ! RT @ndtv: My wife is priceless: Shashi Tharoor takes on Narendra Modi

S Irfan Habib ‏@irfhabib
RT @seemagoswami Never mind the '50 crore girlfriend' Mr Modi, where is your humble school-teacher wife? And when did *you* last see her?

Suresh En@surnell
@ShashiTharoor Sir! Why did U assume it was abt U? He said 50 Crores & a GirlFriend? Not 70 Crore & Wife http://www.dnaindia.com/sport

What is interesting is that With his tweet, Tharoor has deviated from his party's strategy of not engaging with Modi directly. Now, it remains to be seen if Modi will rise to the bait.

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