Is Congress upset with Spandana for masterminding campaign against PM Modi?

On Wednesday, Spandana removed her Twitter bio briefly

Congress social media manager Divya Spandana has turned around her party's social media presence since taking charge of the cell last year. However, some of her tweets and campaigns have not been appreciated. On Wednesday, speculation was rife that she had been removed from her position. Spandana had also removed her Twitter bio briefly. Sources said Spandana could be replaced by Nikhil Alva, who had been handling Congress president Rahul Gandhi's Twitter handle. Some in the Congress blamed Spandana for masterminding the campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi that called him a “thief”. But Spandana's Twitter bio as social media chief was back in place by evening. 

Will they, won’t they

The Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist), traditional Left allies, have gone their separate ways for the forthcoming assembly elections in Telangana. The CPI is part of the Opposition Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) alliance, while the CPI(M) will contest under the umbrella of the Bahujan Left Front (BLF). The BLF comprises 28 small parties, though many of them might not contest the state polls. The Left parties have traditionally been strong in Khammam, Warangal and Nalgonda districts of Telangana. CPI(M)’s party line of not negotiating directly with the Congress is hurting the party, and its leaders believe this would allow CPI to steal a march over its senior ally in many states. However, a poor showing in the Assembly elections could force the CPI (M) central committee to amend the party line for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. 

Volte-face season

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief and Union minister Upendra Kushwaha  is busy keeping senior ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on tenterhooks. On Wednesday, Kushwaha pointed to recent cases of kidnapping and murder in Bihar and wondered if the option of NOTA, or none of the above, would get a majority of the votes in the next elections. “Hope it does not happen that NOTA crosses the majority mark in the next elections in Bihar,” Kushwaha tweeted. Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Prasad had said on Monday that his party's doors were open for Kushwaha. Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who was in Patna, added grist to the rumour mills when he said Nitish Kumar was likely to walk out of the BJP-led NDA ahead of the next Lok Sabha election. “It takes only 24 hours for Kumar to make a volte-face,” Singh said. Asked if the Congress would welcome Kumar, Singh said politics is the art of possibilities.