Excise minister and SP spar on Twitter, call each other names

The Samajwadi Party’s media cell, on the other hand, called Nitin’s father, Naresh  Agrawal, a “drunkard”.

“I did not start it (the spat on Twitter). It was the SP’s media cell Twitter handle that first made a personal attack on me. They have been doing it in the past. Therefore, it became necessary for me to react. They (Samajwadi Party) do not know how to fight on issues and that is why they stoop to such low personal attacks,” Nitin, who holds the Excise portfolio, said.

Defending the party’s media cell tweets on Nitin and his father, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said: “We do not use such language. But when someone makes a personal attack on our party’s national president, workers become angry and they retaliate.”

“Nitin Agrawal is a minister in the BJP government and power has gone to his head. He should not forget the respect he and his father was given by the Samajwadi Party. He should be more bothered about the respect his father gets in the BJP at present. Moreover, as a minister, he should concentrate more on talking about policies rather than making personal attacks on our party president,” Gandhi added.