Sushma, Nirmala in Twitter war over Telangana

A Twitter war between two BJP leaders exposed the unease within the party regarding the strategy it had adopted in Parliament on creation of Telangana — the 29th state.

It started on February 20 —soon after PM Manmohan Singh addressed BJP’s concerns on Seemandhra and the bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha. BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman shared someone’s Twitter post that took a dig at Sushma Swaraj, the Lok Sabha’s leader of opposition.

“If only Sushma had stood for Seemandhra in Lok Sabha just like Venkaiah (Naidu) and (Arun) Jaitley did today,” the tweet shared by Sitharaman said. She did try to explain to the twitterati that the party, and its leaders, were on the same page on Telangana. But the damage had been done.

On Sunday night, the war escalated when Swaraj retweeted a post that hit back at Sitharaman. “With Spokespersons like @nsitharaman, u (you) don’t need enemies”.

As word about the clash, senior leaders intervened and Swaraj’s re-post was subsequently deleted.

"@saikumar_k: @nsitharaman If only Shushma had stood for Seemaandhra in Lok Sabha just like Venkaiah & Jaitley did today." @arunjaitley

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) February 20, 2014

When contacted, Sitharaman refused to comment on the issue.

The attack on Swaraj was an oblique reference to assurances such as the special category for Seemandhra that the party's Rajya Sabha MPs were able to wrest from the PM.

Swaraj did speak on the Telangana bill in the Lok Sabha, during broadcast blackout, to highlight Seemandhra's concerns, but didn't move any amendments.

First Published: Feb 24, 2014 23:31 IST