On Monday night, Bhartiya Janata Party president Amit Shah announced that India’s first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi has been named as the party's chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi assembly polls on February 7. The firebrand activist, who was a core member of the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement, will contest from Krishna Nagar constituency.

Her inaugural address on Friday to BJP workers as the party's face in the polls did not exactly fire up her audience.



On Tuesday morning, her former colleague in the Anna Hazare movement and rival for the chief minister's post, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, challenged Bedi to a public debate.

In the lead-up to the announcement, Bedi had seemed willing to take Kejriwal head on. But then changed her position.

At this point, Ajay Maken, the Congress' candidate for chief minister, began to feel left out. He decided to accept Kejriwal's challenge even though he wasn't the one being challenged.



Also begging to be allowed a slice of the action were various TV channels, who offered themselves up as hosts.



 



Then everyone on Twitter, from All India Bakchod to Gul Panag got into the act to suggest names, venues and channels for the debate.



  NDTV India?



  A debate to decide who gets to be the host?



  The academic Madhu Kishwar?



Barack Obama during his visit to India?



Maybe just on the basis of Twitter?

NDTV?

On the lines of the US election debates?

Times Now anyone?

Soon enough, it transpired that Bedi had blocked Kejriwal on Twitter. NDTV started a poll asking whether Bedi should start reading his messages again.