Rahul Gandhi takes dig at PM Modi, gets trolled by Smriti

New Delhi: The Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday trolled Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comments to civil servants. The Prime Minister addressing officers on Civil Services Day on Friday had asked officers not to use social media for self promotion.

Mr Gandhi put out a tweet on Saturday saying, “Leading by example is clearly overrated.” He also attached a picture of the tweet of a newspaper, which showed the Prime Minister addressing the civil servants and a caption “PM to babus don’t use social media for self promotion or spend too much time online.”

This prompted Mr Gandhi’s rival and textile minister Smriti Irani to rejoin. “Look who is talking about being overrated,” she tweeted. The tweet was accompanied by a smiley.

Ms Irani has had frequent run-ins with Mr Gandhi ever since she unsuccessfully contested from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in 2014 against the Congress leader.

After his sabbatical, the Congress vice-president has increased his online presence, now tweeting more frequently about issues and his programmes. The Prime Minister has been using the medium profusely much before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Mr Gandhi had defeated textile minister Smriti Irani in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when she contested against him in his family bastion Amethi. But Ms Irani clearly has not given up in spite of the defeat, as she is a regular in the constituency. The war continues online and offline.