Accusing the BJP’s “lying factory” of being at it again, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said a senior Minister spun “fake news” about Congress’s links with the disgraced data firm, Cambridge Analytica (CA).
Tagging a news report, Mr. Gandhi tweeted, “BJP lying factory at work: Journalist set to break big story on how Cambridge Analytica (CA) was paid to infiltrate and sabotage the Congress in 2012. BJP rushes Cabinet Minister to lie and spin fake news: Congress worked with CA! Real story vanishes.” The news report tweeted by Mr. Gandhi is a detailed account of a purported whistle-blower, Avneesh Rai, former partner in the Indian subsidiary of CA. Mr. Rai had said CA wanted to penetrate the Congress to sabotage its campaign and defeat it but pleaded ignorance about who engaged CA to do this task.
Since Wednesday, the Congress and the BJP have been engaged in a bitter war of words over using the services of CA in previous elections. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad cited media reports to allege that Congress had deployed CA for elections including the Gujarat Assembly polls last year.
The Congress hit back with the counter allegation that CA helped the BJP in several State elections and the Mission 272 plus. And the Congress chief tweeted to allege that the BJP invented the Congress link only to cover up its handling of the death of 39 Indians in Iraq.
“Problem: 39 Indians dead; Government on the mat, caught lying. Solution: Invent story on Congress and Data Theft. Result: Media networks bite bait; 39 Indians vanish from radar. Problem solved,” he tweeted.
