Congress politician Divya Spandana on Wednesday has trashed reports that said she was stepping down as the party's social media head. Denying the reports that she has quit as the social media chief of the Congress, Spandana told THE WEEK that she had "no idea" why such reports cropped up.
Earlier in the day, media reports had suggested that Spandana had stepped down from the post. Rumours about her resignation were doing the rounds after Spandana deleted her Twitter bio and reportedly skipped work for three days consecutively. It is to be noted that Spandana, who is an active Twitter user, has not tweeted anything since Saturday until Wednesday afternoon.
The news comes in the backdrop of the Lucknow police booking Spandana under sedition law for tweeting a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the word "chor" (thief) written on his forehead. "Rafale Deal: Technical HODs at Dassault Aviation claim Reliance Defence was never the first choice, decision to drop HAL was taken by CEO Eric Trappier at the last minute! #ChorPMChupHai [thief PM is silent]," she had tweeted on September 25.
In response to the sedition charge, Spandana had said that she did not regret calling Modi a 'thief'. "I stand by my statements. It doesn't matter if they [BJP] make a big deal about it. I haven't said anything wrong," Spandana had told THE WEEK.
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The Kannada actor shot to national prominence after she turned around the Congress's social media game after taking over as its social media in-charge. The actor-turned-politician was appointed the social media chief of the Congress in May 2017. Soon after, Spandana managed to revamp and multiply the Congress's social media team, with more than 80 per cent of her team consisting of women.
Spandana had made her political debut by winning a Lok Sabha bypoll from Mandya in 2013. However, she lost the seat in the 2014 general elections; supporters alleged that some party workers had worked to ensure her loss.
(With inputs from Soni Mishra and Anirudha Karindalam)
