new delhi congress president rahul gandhi has just won an inhouse battle that his supporters wish had not happened in the first placehe has become the mostfollowed congress leader on twitter overtaking party mp and former international diplomat shashi tharoorrahul notched a following of 677 million as against tharoors 67 million recently though an everchanging dynamic activity many believe it would only grow further in favour of the congress chief and not seesaw back towards the kerala mpfor congress functionaries and neutral observers rahuls smaller social media footprint in comparison to a colleague was bound to be annoying given that he is the party chieftwitter and other social media platforms are also a function of a leaders engagement with those forums not necessarily embarrassing for anyoneand yet as a congress functionary remarked a party chief is expected to have the highest following among colleagues since social media has become one of the parameters of assessment of popularity it matters in public perception he observedreached for his reaction tharoor exuded a sense of elation with pleasure it is only fitting and as one who has been urging him for years to be on twitter and to be himself there i feel a certain sense of vindication he told toiaiccs social media head divya spandana said rahul is growing at a faster pace not only on twitter but also on other platforms like facebook which she said was a reflection of his sharply rising resonance with peopleit is because of rahul gandhis tweets and the stances he is taking on issues of public importance he is one person who is speaking truth to power there is disillusionment on the streets and he is the only person resonating with the public people are warming up to him she saidit has been a tough battle savvy leaders have had a firstmover advantage while rahul came on twitter much later and that too as officeofrg the handle was turned personal rahulgandhi only on march 17 the day of the aicc plenary session which was to approve his election as congress presidentas he played catchup in the digital space with opponents like prime minister narendra modi who at 423 million has a following almost seven times higher than rahuls a social media strategist said the congress chief often benefited when tweets about him were supplemented by popular handles like that of tharoor and some others with a more diverse if not higher followingtoi had reported in september 2017 that rahul added close to a million followers in two months from 2493 lakh in july to 34 lakh by september amid excitement over the spike as also his smart tweets rahul raised mirth on twitter by posting a video of his pet dog pidi as the brain who tweets for me watch meerut armed robbers loot wedding party kill bride