Twitterati call out Vadakkan for anti-BJP posts preceding switch

Twitter users criticised Tom Vadakkan for his old tweets where he opposed the BJP, even as he joined the saffron party on Thursday.

New Delhi: As Tom Vadakkan switched over to the BJP in a surprise development on Thursday, twitterati dug out old tweets from his account which were highly critical of the saffron party.

A tweet from February 4 stood out, where Vadakkan, while responding to a journalist on Mukul Roy, said, "Once you join BJP all your crimes are cleansed."

Although the account is not verified by Twitter, it is pertinent to note that the official Indian National Congress handle follows Vadakkan's account.

Even on March 7, Vadakkan had tweeted, "People of Uttar Pradesh beware of Jhoota's of the BJP MLA's & MP's multi purpose use. BJP's Jhoota surgical strike on BJP. People of Uttar Pradesh beware of Jhoota's of the BJP MLA's & MP's multi purpose use. BJP's Jhoota surgical strike on BJP."

Even on March 12, just two days before his switch, Vadakkan had retweeted Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's tweet, drawing sharp criticism from the Twitterverse.

Vadakkan's twitter handle

At the time this story was filed, Vadakkan's twitter bio still showed him as a Congress leader. His bio read, "National Spokesman Congress ex Secretary AICC ex Convenor Grievance cell AICC."

Earlier in the day, in a big blow to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, its spokesperson Tom Vadakkan, once a key aide of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, joined the BJP and attacked his former party for its stand on Balakot air strikes.

Vadakkan, who joined the saffron party in the presence of Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and later met its president Amit Shah, said, "I am deeply hurt and that is why I am here." Asserting that the Congress questioned the integrity of armed forces, he said, "The attack by Pakistan on our land and the reaction from my party was sad indeed."

"I left the party with heavy heart. If a party is working against national interest, there is no other option but to leave it," he told reporters.

In an apparent attack on party chief Rahul Gandhi's leadership of the Congress, he said he gave the party two decades of his life but it has now resorted to a practise of "use and throw".

The BJP may field Vadakkan in the Lok Sabha elections from a seat in Kerala.

Read:Till now he used to 'abuse' PM Modi: Cong on Vadakkan