Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal seemed to have been caught on the wrong foot when his tweet on people telling him about the surge pricing implemented by Indian Railways for three trains — Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto — were apparently refuted immediately by fellow-travellers on a Shatabdi, who said they did not see him talking to anyone.
The Ministry of Railways had on Wednesday said these trains would have flexi-fares from Sept. 9. The price of the berths will increase 10 percent of the existing fare with every 10 percent of the tickets sold. However, there will be an upper limit.
Having learnt of the decision from the BJP-led government at the Centre, Kejriwal, who was reportedly travelling to Punjab to participate in some campaigning ahead of the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, wrote on Twitter around noon on Thursday: "I am in shatabdi rt now. Spoke to several people. Everyone is against Modi Govt's surge pricing [sic]."
However, some people — who were apparently travelling with him — decided to call him out on the status update. An individual named Aakash Gauttam tweeted back: "I am in same Shatabdi. You didnt speak to anyone. People hooted seeing you entering in coach. #ShamelessLiar #Kejri [sic]"
He would subsequently be bombarded heavily with messages from AAP supporters trying to prove he was lying. In reply, he would put out a tweet indicating his location, which was Ludhiana in Punjab. However, he refused to share his PNR number — a number unique to each traveller — that could prove he was indeed travelling on the same train as Kejriwal.
Another person, with the Twitter handle â€@SuryaNishtala, seemed to bolster Gauttam's claim, saying: "Even I was @AakashGauttam This scoundrel was looking like a terrified rat & ran for cover wn people jeered at him !"
International Business Times, India, could not independently verify the claims made by the two individuals on Twitter.
