PANAJI
With election rallies banned by the Election Commission of India till January 22, Twitter appears to have emerged as the favoured ground for politicians from rival parties to bait and taunt their opponents.
The ongoing tussle between two potential suitors -- the Trinamool Congress and the Congress party -- has taken the form of a love-hate spat on the Twitter timelines of leaders from both parties.
After the first overture by TMC Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra last week for a joint fight against the BJP earned a lukewarm and a rather guarded All India Congress Committee senior observer for the Goa elections P Chidambaram, Twitter exchanges between leaders of both parties have only heated up since.
“The rumour in circulation that a possible alliance with TMC was discussed by Shri @RahulGandhi in today’s meeting is completely baseless & untrue. Let me assure that the Congress party is confident- we will put Goa back on the path to progress soon,” Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said on Twitter on January 10, amid rumours of an alliance between the two parties.
Venugopal’s tweet and more responses by Chidambaram in an interview on Prudent media in a similar vein got Moitra on to Twitter once again, questioning the Congress leadership.
“In response: 1. AITC already made formal & definitive offer to INC on Goa to defeat BJP 2. INC leadership asked for time to revert. This was almost 2 weeks ago 3. If Mr Chidambaram is not aware of details he should talk to his leadership rather than making these statements,” Moitra said.
Now it was the turn of AICC’s Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao to respond to Moitra, who sarcastically raised questions about TMC’s “brilliant strategy” to take on the BJP in Goa.
“If @kcvenugopalmp’s tweet wasn’t reply enough, I wonder who from amongst Delhi leaders response is @MahuaMoitra awaiting. And Trinamool’s brilliant strategy to defeat BJP in Goa is weaken Congress and divide the anti-BJP vote. Whom does that help Moitraji?” he said on Saturday morning.
The irrepressible Moitra however appears to have had enough of the baiting by Congress leaders by Saturday afternoon.
“AITC serious about defeating BJP. Uninformed false bravado no substitute for rational thinking & maturity. Definitive offer between principals on table - waiting for revert. No desire to engage in further Twitter shadow boxing with various INC functionaries,” she said.
However, despite the long-drawn exchange, the final word on whether the two parties will eventually form a broad alliance to take on the BJP, appears to have not been spoken just yet.
