New Delhi: Information minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday, in a counter attack on Congress party, said Cambridge Anaytica’s services were used by the Congress during Gujarat Assembly elections.
Earlier in the day, Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused the government of inventing data theft story and blaming it on his party to divert attention from the deaths of 39 Indians in Iraq.
Prasad alleged that “Rahul Gandhi’s entire social media campaign during Gujarat elections was taken care of by Cambridge Analytica".
The minister also alleged that reports of Rahul’s association with Cambridge Analytica came out five months ago.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor accused Ravi Shankar Prasad of lying and strongly denied that the party had any links with Cambridge Analytica.
"It is shocking that they are accusing Congress this way. Congress has no relation with Cambridge Analytica...It is very shocking that a minister is lying like this," said Tharoor.
Cambridge Analytica, the firm at the centre of the row over illegal mining of Facebook data to influence elections, claims to have worked in India during the 2010 Bihar Assembly Elections on its website, but did not spell out which party hired it.
However, it did add that its client had achieved “a landslide victory, with over 90% of total seats targeted by CA being won." The elections were won by the JD(U), which was in alliance with the BJP.
The BJP has denied any links and instead alleged that Cambridge Analytica had worked with Congress on electoral strategy.
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