Divya Spandana's missing Twitter bio fuels rumours of her quitting Congress post; party leader rubbishes speculations

Congress’ social media in-charge Divya Spandana, aka Ramya, sparked off rumours of her resignation when description on her Twitter bio changed. Divya’s Twitter bio, which described her credentials as “Actor, Former Member of Parliament and currently handles social media and digital communication for Congress” disappeared for hours on Wednesday and was mysteriously returned as soon as the news was picked up by the media.

However, the actor-turned-politician, who has been credited with turning the tables for her party at a time when Congress’ social media presence was at best lackluster, has denied such rumours and re-posted the missing bio, which fueled all the speculation.

The re-posted bio said: “Actor, Former Member of Parliament, currently handling Social Media & Digital Communications for the Congress party & I ❤️ it!”

Speaking to Times Now, Divya clarified that she has not stepped down and was on leave. She blamed a “bug issue” for the missing bio. However, that did not stem the speculations flying thick and fast.

According to  Zee News, Divya resigned from the post of Congress’ digital communications incharge and would be given some other responsibility. Meanwhile, NDTV speculated that the move hinted at strains within the party. A local news channel reported that Nivedith Alva, a former journalist and a digital media professional will now take up the responsibility.

However, none of these reports named their sources and an official confirmation was unavailable.

Divya was recently in the midst of controversy when she had drawn a comparison of the right-wing organisation, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with Muslim Brotherhood. Besides, in one of her usually acerbic tweets, she had even labelled Prime Minister Narendra Modi chor (a thief), following which she was charged with sedition.

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However, that said, Divya remains the person behind Congress’ visibly improved online-cum-offline campaign strategy in recently conducted Gujarat and Karnataka elections.

The Kannada actor-turned-politician is an active Twitter user who contested and lost the 2014 polls from Mandya. She was appointed as the party’s social media head in 2017. Her efforts marked the arrival of the Congress on social media, with an emphasis towards state-level leaders interacting with voters through the virtual world_._ Several fact check that the Congress regularly puts out on its official Twitter handle, were also said to be Divya’s initiative.