Cambridge Analytica Row: Who used stolen data for polls – Congress or BJP?

Ravi Shankar Prasad said, ‘The Congress must explain if it has engaged in data trade with Cambridge Analytica’.

Latest News : The BJP and the Congress accused each other of using the services of embattled data consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica (CA) that along with Facebook is at the centre of a global row over the alleged unauthorized use of personal data from the social media giant.

As the firestorm over the issue hit India, the government warned Facebook, which is being probed by US and British lawmakers over a potential breach of user confidentiality, of stringent action if any attempt was made to influence the country’s electoral process through “undesirable means”.

However, the company’s India partner Oveleno Business Intelligence (OBI) lists the BJP, the Congress and the JD-U as its clients. The India partner is by Amrish Tyagi, son of senior JD-U leader K. C. Tyagi. In media interviews, the junior Tyagi admitted that the Youth Congress in Jharkhand, the BJP and the JD-U had used its services to conduct research.

BJP leader and Union Law and IT and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad cited media reports to allege that the Congress was using the services of the London-based political data analytics firm for the next Lok Sabha election and boost its president Rahul Gandhi’s social media profile and its outreach.

“The Congress must explain if it has engaged in data trade with Cambridge Analytica,” the minister said.

He said the number of Gandhi’s followers on Twitter had risen recently and wondered if the Congress had used the services of the Cambridge Analytica for this “fake popularity”.

“Will the Congress now depend on data manipulation and theft to woo voters,” Prasad asked.

“These days, there is a lot of news about CA and how it has been involved in data theft, psychometric analysis, data manipulation and subversion of democratic processes. Can the Congress deny that?” he asked.

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TDP, YSR Congress no-confidence motions against BJP govt today: 10 points

YSR Congress has written to the Lok Sabha secretariat to put its notice of the motion in the revised list of business for Monday, while TDP has also moved a notice for a no-trust motion.

Latest News : The N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Y S Jaganmohan Reddy-led Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSR Congress Party) on Monday will push their notices of no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government in the Lok Sabha, as they continue their respective agitations for the granting of a special-category status to Andhra Pradesh. The development comes after the TDP quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and moved a no-confidence motion on Friday, a day after the YSR Congress Party had moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government. Their notices were not taken up last week because of the din in the House.

YSR Congress Party’s Y V Subba Reddy has written to the Lok Sabha secretariat to put his notice of the motion in the revised list of business for today. The TDP has also moved a notice for a no-confidence motion.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar has said that the TDP and YSR Congress Party’s notices were not taken up last week due to the House not being in order, with members of several parties raising slogans in the Well. However, Monday might not prove very fruitful for the two parties from Andhra Pradesh as the Lok Sabha will meet today amid no signs of a let-up in the deadlock in the House’s proceedings. It remains uncertain if order will be restored in the Lok Sabha today with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi protesting over a host of issues.

The proceedings in Parliament were washed out for the second consecutive week on Friday due to protests by Opposition parties.

Both the parties from Andhra Pradesh have been protesting and agitating as the Centre has refused to grant the state a special-category status. The political tussle in the state and at the national level saw the TDP and the BJP engage in an escalating and heated exchange, which culminated in the end of their alliance. Both parties have been lobbying with opposition parties for support to their respective notices.

However, even if the no-confidence motions are admitted, the Modi government has expressed confidence that they will be defeated given its strength in the Lok Sabha.

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Rahul shows up as ‘non-Hindu’ in Somnath visitors’ list; BJP rakes up issue

The BJP tried to make an issue of this faux pas, pouncing on this opportunity to corner the Gandhi scion.

Rahul Gandhi at Somnath Temple : In a major goof-up, the media coordinator of Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday wrote “non-Hindu” against the name of the Congress Vice President in the register of the famed Somnath temple, leading the BJP to pounce on it as evidence that Gandhi is “not a Hindu”.

Rahul Gandhi’s media coordinator Manoj Tyagi later clarified that he had entered the Congress leader’s name in the register as a means to take along his entire delegation inside that included security personnel and media persons.

The Congress Vice President, who arrived on Wednesday on a two-day visit to the poll-bound state of Gujarat, was to pay a visit to the temple for prayers before beginning his election campaign in Saurashtra region.

Ahead of the visit, Manoj Tyagi made an entry in the register for Ahmed Patel, a non-Hindu, who was to accompany the Congress Vice President inside the temple and also wrote the name of Rahul Gandhi in the register.

The BJP tried to make an issue of this faux pas, pouncing on this opportunity to corner the Gandhi scion.

The saffron party is worried about the soft Hindutva line that Rahul Gandhi has been following in his several visits to the state, which are being seen as a successful tactic in the election-bound state.

Click to Read → Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017