It seems all's not well with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A Twitter war between Leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj and party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman exposed the unease within the party regarding the strategy it had adopted in Parliament on the creation of Telangana.
Sushma Swaraj vs Nirmala Sitharaman.
On 20 February, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed BJP's concerns on Seemandhra and the bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha, Nirmala Sitharaman shared someone's Twitter post that took a dig at Sushma Swaraj.
"@saikumar_k: @nsitharaman If only Shushma had stood for Seemaandhra in Lok Sabha just like Venkaiah & Jaitley did today." @arunjaitley
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) February 20, 2014
Sitharaman's tweet went viral as twitterati kept retweeting her. Soon after she realised she's in trouble, she tried explaining on Twitter that the BJP and its leaders were on the same page on Telangana.
My request to @srivatsayb pl do not jump to any conclusions. See my TL. I have asked @lalithadithya too. No diff in BJP @SushmaSwarajbjp — Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) February 20, 2014
Put it this way @jaipalr88 : BJP, @SushmaSwarajbjp, Naiduji and @arunjaitley working for formation of Telangana and justice for Seemaandhra — Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) February 20, 2014
No sorry @jaipalr88 you are mistaken. Circumstance in LS @SushmaSwarajbjp came out & explained. LSTV black out was shocking. Pl check facts.
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) February 20, 2014
But the damage had been done.
On Sunday night, the war escalated when Swaraj retweeted a post that hit back at Sitharaman. "With Spokespersons like @nsitharaman, u (you) don't need enemies".
Swaraj's post was deleted following intervention by senior leaders.
The attack on Swaraj was an oblique reference to assurances such as the special category for Seemandhra that the party's Rajya Sabha MPs were able to wrest from the PM. Swaraj did speak on the Telangana bill in the Lok Sabha, during the broadcast blackout, to highlight Seemandhra's concerns, but didn't move any amendments.
She had also reportedly overruled party leaders like Advani, to insist that Telangana be created. Prior to the movement of the Telangana bill, Sushma Swaraj had been one of the staunchest supporters of the Telangana movement, even going so far as to tell Telangana leaders that if the state was not created, she would come to Andhra Pradesh and protest with them.
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