BJP, Congress in war of words over Rahul's Twitter popularity
Rahul Gandhi's recent resurgence on Twitter has triggered a war of words between BJP and Congress members after an ANI news report suggested that 'bots' or web robots were mass retweeting Rahul Gandhi's tweets. Although the ANI report could not be independently verified, that did not stop either the BJP or the Congress from taking potshots at each other.
The ANI report on mass retweeting bots
A tweet by 'OfficeofRG' on 15th October on US-Pakistan relations with the caption "Modi ji quick, looks like President Trump needs another hug", quickly reached 20,000 retweets. It currently stands at 30,000 retweets. ANI did a close analysis of the tweet and showed that 'bots' of Russian, Kazakh, and Indonesian characteristics were routinely retweeting Rahul Gandhi's tweets.
BJP members had a field day over the ANI report
Following the ANI report, information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani took to Twitter to question the authenticity of retweets. Meanwhile, Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore tweeted on Rahul Gandhi's popularity, calling it "doping". Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar tweeted saying, "Desperate times call for desperate measures?". Meanwhile, Amit Malviya, the head of BJP's IT cell, said that the Congress was "buy[ing]" support for Rahul Gandhi.
Smriti Irani mocks Rahul Gandhi on Twitter
Congress members jump to Rahul Gandhi's defense
Several Congress members jumped to Rahul Gandhi's defense. Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Shukla said that the BJP were "afraid of Rahul Gandhi and his popularity". Congress leader and former Union minister RPN Singh said that regardless of the number of retweets, Rahul Gandhi's tweets were highlighting important issues. Singh also called PM Modi out on his silence over important issues, and dismissed ANI's report.
