Knee-jerk reaction: Hit back by BJP on data breach, Cong pulls down app, site

New Delhi: Hours after being accused by the ruling BJP of sharing user data, Congress on Monday took down both its App and the party membership website.

The Congress app is no longer available on Google Playstore. Those clicking on to its membership site are greeted by with the message reading: "We are incorporating minor changes to the website. Please visit us again in a while to access the INC Membership process."

In-charge of BJP's national Information and Technology, Amit Malviya was among the first to react to the Congress pulling down its App.

Malviya further added, "All of you who complained about the surge in anti-BJP and anti-government messages and fake news in recent days on social media, now know who was behind it - an insidious Cambridge Analytica hired by a desperate Congress!"

In earlier tweets on Monday, the BJP IT head had raised "privacy and consent conflicts" in the Congress party's own App.

The Congress has been targeting the BJP over the Narendra Modi app of the Prime Minister amid reports that it sent user data to a US-based company without consent. The allegation surfaced alongside a massive scandal over the alleged misuse of personal data of Facebook users by the disgraced research group Cambridge Analytica to help political parties.

Read: Cong leaks info to Rahul friends, says BJP amid row over NaMo app data-sharing

On Monday morning too, Congress President Rahul Gandhi continued his attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP with another Tweet, posted with the hashtag #DeleteNaMoApp.

The Congress President further accused Narendra Modi of misusing the Prime Ministerial post to build personal database with intel on millions of Indians via the NaMo App promoted by the government.