With just two days before 20 constituencies in Rajasthan go to the polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday targeted State Congress president Sachin Pilot for “purchasing” Facebook likes from Turkey.
The BJP accused the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president of buying Facebook likes to boost his online presence.
“The RPCC Facebook page has become so popular in the past 15 days that it looks set to break the record of fake likes purchased by [former Chief Minister] Ashok Gehlot,” BJP leader and Cabinet Minister Arun Chaturvedi said here on Tuesday.
“During the past 18-19 days, the number of likes on this page has increased exponentially... and if we look further, we find most of these are coming from Istanbul in Turkey... the same place where Ashok Gehlot bought his likes from,” said Mr. Chaturvedi.
He pointed out that between April 6 and13, the number of likes increased from 20,000 to 80,000 which proved the likes had been “purchased unethically”.
“We urge the people to not be influenced by this negative publicity,” he said.
Since Turkey was visible as the most popular city on the RPCC Facebook page, it was clear the likes had been purchased from there, he said.
The BJP also attacked the Congress over a post on its Facebook page which read, “Pilot government implemented several welfare schemes during its five years.”
“The fact that they are writing Pilot Sarkaar means Ashok Gehlot has totally been sidelined,” said Mr. Chaturvedi.