Has Congress social media cell chief Divya Spandana actually resigned?
The woman credited with upping Congress and its chief Rahul Gandhi’s social media game is reportedly miffed with the party these days. To express her anguish in unequivocal terms, Divya Spandana has reportedly resigned from the post of the party’s social media head.
While neither the party, nor Spandana has confirmed the news, multiple sources have spoken to different news organisations on condition of anonymity, confirming that it has indeed happened.
NDTV.com has quoted Congress sources to confirm that Rahul Gandhi was unhappy with Spandana's recent tweets targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It must be noted here that Spandana was the Congress chief’s pick for the job.
One such tweet using the word "chor (thief)" for the Prime Minister landed Spandana in legal trouble after the Uttar Pradesh police filed a sedition case against her. The tweet had a photoshopped image of PM Modi painting the word 'chor' (Hindi for thief) on the forehead of his wax statue.
Gomti Nagar police station has booked Spandana under Section 67 of The Information Technology (Amendment) Act and sedition (Section 124A) of the Indian Penal Code based on a complaint filed by a Lucknow-based lawyer Syed Rizwan Ahmad on Tuesday. “Her tweet was derogatory. The PM represents our sovereignty and republic. It is a disgrace to our nation and is a contempt," Ahmad had said.
Leaders in the party, apparently, felt that Spandana had crossed the line with her tweet.
Sources say the former parliamentarian is upset because much of her role has been transferred to Congress veteran Margaret Alva’s son Nikhil Alva.
Alva reportedly personally handles Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter handle. However, there is still no confirmation on whether Alva has formally taken over the role of Congress’ social media head.
Interestingly, Spandana who is a regular Twitter user, hasn’t tweeted anything since September 29. She has only retweeted Rahul Gandhi’s tweet on Narendra Modi government trying to favour Anil Ambani in the Rafale deal since the speculation about her resignation came to the fore.
Rumour mills were working full throttle on October 3 as news emerged that Spandana had deleted her Twitter bio. The bio which had her designation with the party, was later reposted. However, what led to the deletion and reposting remains unexplained.
Prior to the sedition case, Spandana was dragged into another controversy around a sexual harassment case within her team, where she has been accused of looking the other way when complained to about the misconduct.
The apparent move to sideline Spandana is strange coming at a time when the battle for 2019 is getting sharper and increasingly heated. Social media is a potent tool these days for parties to put their points across given that TV debates don’t really provide much of an insight into opinions.
No one can deny how energised Congress' official Twitter handle @INCIndia has become since Divya Spandana took charge.
At a time like this the move to allow a fight within its own ranks is poor for Congress strategy.
Spandana told The Economic Times on Wednesday noon that the reports which saying she was removed from her post were "silly", and brushed aside some suggestions she was joining the BJP.
Talking to a TV channel, Spandana denied the reports and said that she is only taking leave for some time. Strange that she has chosen this politically crucial time to take a break from the job, her bio says she loves a lot.
