The BJP on Wednesday alleged that the Congress has links to Cambridge Analytica (CA), the British data analytics company that is alleged to have influenced the US presidential elections. However, the company's India partner Ovleno Business Intelligence (OBI) lists the BJP, the Congress and the JDU in its clientele.
OBI's managing director Amrish Tyagi, is the son of JD(U) leader and Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar K.C. Tyagi. The junior Tyagi managed the social media campaign for Nitish Kumar during the 2015 Bihar assembly elections. "He also acts as an advisor for many political leaders and government officials in India through his political resource planning and management system. He also conducted opinion poll in assembly election 2012 Uttar Pradesh for News24," says Tyagi's profile on OBI's website. "He has an in-depth knowledge of political and social behavior of people and is involved in trend analysis of previous elections. He forecasts and analyzes the moves of different parties and thus helps the clients in formulation of counter strategy and he is an acclaimed political analyst, a social activist and a flourishing entrepreneur, all amalgamated into a super energetic and enterprising mind."
CA’s parent firm is Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL). "The SCL India is a venture between Oveleno Business Intelligence, India and SCL Group, London," states the OBI website. "We carried out a psephological study and opinion polling for a national party to identify swing voters in 2012 Uttar Pradesh elections," OBI lists in its list of 'past experience'.
CA is at the heart of the data theft controversy for allegedly harvesting personal profiles of more than 50 million Facebook users to sway election campaign in favour of US President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election campaign. The company was hired by the Trump side to manage its election campaign. While CA denied the allegations, the media reports have caused concerns across the globe with law enforcement authorities from the US and the UK summoning CA and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.
Earlier in the day, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed the Congress has links with CA. "What link does Cambridge Analytica have with social media management of Rahul Gandhi and Congress Party? Will the Congress Party now depend upon data manipulation and data theft to win elections?" asked the Union minister.
Dismissing the claim, Congress' Divya Spandana took to Twitter: "News about Congress engaged/engaging with Cambridge Analytica is absolutely false."