Opinion Turkish delight,Rajasthan serving

Always a step ahead of the Congress in the social media sphere,the BJP wasted no time. Last-minute calls were made one afternoon last week about a press conference in 15 minutes. A team of BJP’s in-house ‘social media experts’,the press was told,had flown in with “shocking facts” about how Gehlot had “tampered” with the ‘Likes’ on his Facebook page,buying them from a distant and unlikely Istanbul.

A baffled Congress reacted with its characteristic fluster and bluster — slamming “baseless allegations”,and promising “we are looking into the matter”. Sources said behind the scenes,they were busy trying to figure out how it had come to such a pass,particularly in case of a CM that no one could accuse of holding any allure beyond Rajasthan.

A day later,Gehlot’s “technical team” came out with a rather lengthy explanation,saying that the number of ‘Likes’ is exclusive of the ‘most popular city’. That is,it only shows the place where the most number of people logged onto the page and not necessarily liked it. That still didn’t explain why Istanbul had developed a sudden interest in the CM of Rajasthan’s press releases.

The ‘Likes’ have since fallen,from all-time high of 2,15,813 to around 1,96,844 now. The BJP and Congress continue to trade charges on the “conspiracy”,while the opposition party has also found another Rs 800-crore stick to beat Gehlot with.

Meanwhile,the CM,by all accounts,continues to be perplexed at the hit — and the hits. He is said to have initially enquired,“Ye ‘Like’ hota kya hai (What is this ‘Like’)?” After a lowdown on the subject,he even laughed it off in front of the media: “I am also very amazed. I have never even been to Turkey.”

Sweta is a principal correspondent based in Jaipur

sweta.dutta@expressindia.com