Cong warns leaders over Twitter war
nNEWDELHI: The Congress on Sunday stepped in to check a war of words between seniors who served as ministers in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and young leaders considered close to former party chief Rahul Gandhi, cautioning both sides against playing “Twitter-twitter.” Both sides were told to air their views only on organisational platforms and not on social media.
The party’s media department head Randeep Singh Surjewala was asked by the top leadership to rush to Delhi from a trip to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and address a news conference to ask the warring leaders to refrain from escalating the matter, a Congress leader said on condition of anonymity.
Rahul Gandhi has been upset by media reports suggesting a deep divide within the party between the seniors and young leaders and “unwarranted” criticism of the UPA government, the leader said. “Rahul Gandhi does not appreciate people making an issue out of a non-issue. He wanted an immediate end to this so-called old versus young divide debate and the Twitter war over UPA’S performance and subsequently Surjewala rushed to Delhi,” the leader added.
Surjewala, addressing a news conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, said, “I will advise friends who are playing Twitter-twitter to stop making comments on social media. We
have internal democracy and you should present your views at the appropriate party platforms.”
The advisory to stop open mudslinging in the social media came a day after four former ministers – Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Milind Deora -- came out to defend the ten-year tenure of Manmohan Singh as PM and the UPA government following critical remarks against the former ruling coalition by young Congress leader Rajeev Satav, considered close to Rahul Gandhi.
At Sonia Gandhi’s meeting with party’s Rajya Sabha members on Thursday, Satav suggested introspection over the
UPA II tenure that, he said, was responsible for the party dropping to an all-time low of 44 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Surjewala conveyed the leadership’s message in no uncertain terms to both the sides — that no one can question former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and there were no differences between him and Rahul Gandhi who “owns up {to} and stands by each and every decision” of UPA I and II.
On Sunday, except former Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh and Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore, who later deleted his tweets, no other leader commented on social media.