Twitter war erupts as Modi becomes BJP's PM candidate

The real electoral battle is still seven months away. The Twitter war between the Congress and BJP, however, escalated on Friday even before the saffron party officially declared Narendra Modi as its prime minister candidate. Saubhadra Chatterji reports.

The real electoral battle is still seven months away. The Twitter war between the Congress and BJP, however, escalated on Friday even before the saffron party officially declared Narendra Modi as its prime minister candidate.

Congress’ loyal Twitter brigade launched #BJPkipareshani (the problem for BJP) to take potshots at Modi and highlighted the differences within the BJP over Modi’s elevation. The BJP hit back, reviving a few old twitter handles including #Namo4PM.

One of the pro-Congress tweets "dedicated" a song from LK Advani to Modi: Sun Raha Hai Na Tu Ro Raha Hon Mein (are you listening, I am crying?) while party spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, "LOL!! #BJPKiPareshani Modi ya Advani!! The circus has begun!" she soon doubled it up with "#BJPkipareshani Division Document (or) Vision document."

The Congress loyalists’ tirade was matched by saffron rants as ?@Against_Pseudos tweeted, "Burnol for dynasty slaves and sycophants."

On earlier occasion too, the Congress and the BJP engaged in sharp exchange of words on the popular social media platforms.

When Congress vie president Rahul Gandhi delivered a lecture—his first such attempt—at CII in April—the BJP brigade launched #Pappu and a few days later, the Congress supporters settled scores with #Feku when Modi appeared for a FICCI event.

While some tweets were aimed at Rajnath Singh and the RSS, most of them took potshots at Advani, who distanced himself from the BJP’s meeting on Friday where Modi was elevated. Some termed him as the real problem of the BJP while others said that the BJP’s lauh purush (iron man) has become "LOL purush".