india

Updated: Apr 23, 2017 06:51 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice to bureaucrats not to use social media for self- promotion today led to a spat between Rahul Gandhi and Smriti Irani.

It began with the Congress vice president taking a swipe at Modi, saying he was not in a position to lead by example on his counsel against self-promotion.

“Leading by example is clearly overrated,” Gandhi said on Twitter, after Modi told bureaucrats on Friday not to use social media for self-promotion or spend too much time online.

Leading by example is clearly overrated https://t.co/EZa4cjp04n — Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) April 22, 2017

Smriti Irani fired a retaliatory salvo at the Congress vice-president with a tweet:

Look who is talking about being over rated :-) https://t.co/5bOpFHTMj0 — Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) April 22, 2017

Irani has had frequent run-ins with Gandhi ever since she unsuccessfully contested from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in 2014 against the Congress leader.

The Prime Minister actively uses the social media to connect with the public and is the most followed leader on Twitter and Instagram in the country.

Modi has 29.3 million followers on Twitter and has emerged as the most followed world leader on photo-sharing app Instagram with a whopping 6.9 million followers, surpassing US President Donald Trump.