Congress MP 'unfollows' Obama after his Rahul Gandhi remark, Sanjay Jha says 'embarassing'

Hurt by 44th US President Barack Obama's musings on ex-Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, his loyalist and Congress' Lok Sabha Whip Manickam Tagore, on Friday, said that he would be unfollowing Obama on Twitter, urging his followers to do the same. Obama - who has the most followed account on Twitter with 125.9m followers - has opined that 'Gandhi has a nervous, unformed quality about him' in his new book- 'A Promised Land' which hit bookshelves, earlier this week. Tagore- a staunch ally of Gandhi, has often appealed to Gandhi to take over the reins of Congress and had also 'stormed the well' in the Lok Sabha when 'Gandhi's question on COVID went unheard'.

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Manickam Tagore: 'Unfollow Obama'

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Reacting to Tagore's 'unfollow Obama' call, ex-Congress leader Sanjay Jhan opined that it was 'embarrassing'. AICC General Secretary Tariq Anwar defended Gandhi saying 'he  has changed a lot since he met Obama and it is difficult to assess someone in short meetings.' Rahul Gandhi had briefly met Obama in 2017 after his first meeting during the UPA government's tenure. Several BJP leaders took a swipe at Gandhi, opining on the hit to his image on a 'global level'. 

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Obama on Rahul Gandhi

According to a book review by the New York Times, Obama has opined on the Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi stating, "Rahul Gandhi has a nervous, unformed quality about him, as if he were a student who’d done the coursework and was eager to impress the teacher but deep down lacked either the aptitude or the passion to master the subject”. He has also opined on Dr. Singh as a 'someone having a kind of impassive integrity'. Apart from these Indian politicians, Obama has reportedly described Russsian President Vladimir Putin reminding him of 'the street-smart bosses who used to run Chicago at one point in time'.

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Congress president saga

Congress has been in a leadership dilemma since Rahul Gandhi quit as party chief in the post-Lok Sabha 2019 debacle. This led to a barrage of resignations from posts like Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Priyanka Chaturvedi and many more. Amidst a lot of turmoil with Priyanka Vadra too being considered, Congress finally went back to their safe option and named Sonia Gandhi as its interim chief. Recently, her tenure was again extended after 23 leaders sought structural changes in the party, but were shut down by the party's 'Core committee'. Most leaders have time and again implored the 50-year-old Rahul Gandhi to take back the reins of the party, but he has not budged.