New Delhi: Former social media head of the Congress party and actor, Divya Spandana ‘Ramya’, alleged Wednesday that the Congress instructed its workers to troll her on social media for a statement she’d made against Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar earlier in the day.
Taking to Twitter, Ramya — a former Parliamentarian from Karnataka’s Mandya constituency, alleged that the Congress “circulated” messages amongst its leaders and volunteers to get her trolled.
“So the ‘office’ has circulated these messages among the congress leaders & volunteers asking them troll me. Save yourself the trouble — I’ll do it myself.(sic)”, Ramya wrote, attaching a series of screenshots that showed various messages in English and Kannada allegedly circulated to troll her. She also tagged Shivakumar and Congress’ Srivatsa Y.B. presently a member Rahul Gandhi’s team and former social media head of the Karnataka Congress.
So the ‘office’ has circulated these messages among the congress leaders & volunteers asking them troll me. Save yourself the trouble- I’ll do it myself. @srivatsayb @DKShivakumar
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) May 11, 2022
Earlier in the day, Ramya had criticised the Karnataka Pradesh Congress (KPCC) chief, D.K. Shivakumar for a statement he’d made Tuesday against Karnataka’s Higher Education Minister and BJP leader Ashwathnarayan C.N., alleging that the minister had met the Congress’ M.B. Patil to “seek protection” from being questioned on public platforms in the PSI recruitment scam.
“People across parties meet each other, go to functions, some even get married into families — I’m surprised @DKShivakumar would say this about @MBPatil who’s a staunch congressman. Shouldn’t the party be fighting elections as one unit?@INCIndia,” wrote Ramya on Twitter, in response to Shivakumar’s comment.
People across parties meet each other, go to functions, some even get married into families- I’m surprised @DKShivakumar would say this about @MBPatil who’s a staunch congressman. Shouldn’t the party be fighting elections as one unit? @INCIndia https://t.co/YOT11h35Cq
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) May 11, 2022
ThePrint reached D.K. Shivakumar and Srivatsa Y.B. on Whatsapp and Twitter for comment on the controversy, but received no response till the publication of this copy. The copy will be updated when a response is received.
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“Where Have You Been All These Years?”
The first of the screenshots that Ramya attached, has a text message in English, followed by a series of messages in Kannada. The names of the alleged senders of the messages are not visible.
“You may pls open above tweet link and reply suitably in comments to respond her using any of the following texts (sic)”, said the message in English.
“Where have you been all these years? Didn’t have time to attend Amabreesh’s funeral also? Why are you waking up now? Can you please let the voters of Mandya know? (sic)”, asked one of the messages in Kannada, in the same screenshot.
Ambareesh was a rebel Congress leader from Karnataka who passed away in 2018. His wife, Sumalatha is the serving MP from Mandya, Ramya’s former seat.
In her subsequent tweets, Ramya also shared some screenshots of other messages that were allegedly circulated about her, which were in English.
“OMG look who is alive and talking about what the party should be doing? Sabbatical over or you just woke up today and decided you feel like tweeting today?”, read one of the messages.
“You got into the party because of senior leaders in the party. You have no loyalty to the party or voters. Can you go back to the absconding state that you were in or just delete you accounts. I’m sure you have enough experience in this (sic)”, read another message.
After the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Ramya quit the post of Congress social media head and took a “break” from politics. She made her decision known by deleting all her social media accounts.
Since then, she has not actively been involved in the party’s activities, though active on social media. She had been replaced by Rohan Gupta as the party’s social media head.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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