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Twitter war between Rahul Gandhi, Ravi Shankar Prasad over Facebook data leak scandal
Attacking the ruling government, Rahul questioned the Centre over pending court cases and appointment of judges to Supreme Court and High Courts.
NEW DELHI: In the wake of alleged misuse of user data on Facebook, Twitterati witnessed a war of words between the Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Union Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Attacking the ruling government, Rahul questioned the Centre over pending court cases and appointment of judges to Supreme Court and High Courts.
Rahul's attack came following a political slugfest continues between the ruling BJP and the Congress over allegations that the opposition party has engaged the services of British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
"Legal system collapsing under Pending Cases: Supreme Court 55,000+, High Court 37 Lakh+, Lower Courts 2.6 Crore+. Yet, a staggering 400 High Court and 6,000 Lower Court judges not appointed, while Law Minister preoccupied peddling fake news," Gandhi tweeted.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over delay in appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts, he said "Justice K M Joseph, overturned President's rule in Uttarakhand in 2016. When his name was proposed for the Supreme Court, Modi jis ego was hurt. Approval of over 100 judges, cleared for the Supreme Court and various High Courts are now on hold. #JudiciaryDemonetised(sic)."
Prasad replied Rahul in a series of tweets. "Mr. Rahul Gandhi, the notice given to Cambridge Analytica for Data Manipulation has naturally worried you. Angry, frustrated and apprehensive, you are now dragging the judiciary. Deeply reprehensible," he wrote.
Providing data and a number charts, the union minister said that the pendency of cases and appointment of judges was a legacy of the UPA government. The BJP is working hard to improve the situation, he added.
"Mr Rahul Gandhi, maintaining your track record your team has failed you once again by not doing their homework. Average appointments of High Court Judges under UPA-1 was 86 per year, and in UPA-2 it was 79 per year. Under NDA it has been 109 per year," he wrote in another tweet.