The dogged pursuit of his detractors to find reasons for his resurgence on Twitter on Sunday prompted Rahul Gandhi to post a video of his dog, attributing his resurrection on the microblogging website to his pet canine.
“People (have) been asking who tweets for this guy... I’m coming clean..it’s me..Pidi..I’m way smarter than him. Look what I can do with a tweet..oops..treat!,” Mr. Gandhi said on Twitter, posting a video of his dog doing a trick at his master’s command.
The video shows a hand placing something edible between the dog’s eyes and nose as the Congress vice president is heard issuing some commands. In a swift, deft move, the canine jumps and catches it in his mouth.
The twitter post drew varied response from his political rivals and followers.
Among initial twitter reactions to the Congress leader’s tweet was one by former Assam Congress strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had quit the party and joined the BJP on the eve of the last State elections, accusing Rahul Gandhi of “indifference” to party affairs.
“Sir @OfficeOfRG, who knows him better than me. Still remember you busy feeding biscuits to him while we wanted to discuss urgent Assam’s issues,” Mr. Sarma said, provoking Congress leaders to lash out at him.
“We also know you better now,” was the reaction of Mahila Congress president and Lok Sabha MP from Silchar Sushmita Dev, who tagged Mr. Sarma.
Congress social media in charge Divya Spandana, responding to Mr. Gandhi’s tweet said, “So know you who can match this talent.”
Mr. Gandhi’s tweet came at a time when his social media popularity is a subject of intense discussion.
The BJP has accused Mr. Gandhi of using bots to inflate his fan following on the microblogging website, but the Congress defended his Twitter resurgence as natural.
