JOIN USIs this why Ramya quit as social media head of Congress?
Kannada actor-turned-politician Ramya's sudden departure as head of Congress’ social media department after the party’s 2019 Lok Sabha elections loss has remained a mystery.
Ramya-Divya Spandana’s exit from politics was blamed on rivalries within the party, but the former Lok Sabha member from Mandya has revealed one “disastrous mistake” she had committed while leading the party’s social media strategies.
The incident dates back to August 2018, when Rahul Gandhi, the then Congress president, was on a visit to Germany with a group of former party MPs and photos of his tour of Bundestag museum in Berlin caused acute embarrassment to him.
“Speaking of mistakes at work, I’d like to share with you a disastrous mistake I made…,” Ramya posted on her Instagram account recalling how she had clicked pictures of Rahul walking through the Bundestag and posted on the Congress social media handles.
“It went viral instantly – for all the wrong reasons. In no time the media picked it up. The trolls had ammunition – as usual, laughing and mocking him. He got trolled viciously for a mistake I had committed,” she said.
Ramya recalled that everyone in the party gave her "grief”, except for the “man caught in the storm”.
“Even we couldn’t resist retweeting this,” the BJP had said on its Twitter handle sharing photographs of Rahul staring blankly at nothing in museum.
Ramya said she had offered to resign after the incident, but Rahul had turned down the offer and only asked her to be careful next time.
“I was in tears. I had basically thrown him to the wolves. I really should have been fired. He was and still is such a good human being for letting it go,” she said.
Ramya had turned around the otherwise staid social media presence of the Congress with her biting criticism of the Modi government since she assumed charge in May 2017.
During her two-year tenure, she also left behind a trail of controversies that put the party on the defensive.