Kerala Congress leader VT Balram resigns as party's social media chief after controversial Bihar and bidi post

Kerala Congress leader and the party's social media head VT Balram has reportedly resigned from the latter role on September 6, following furore over an alleged insulting post about Bihar, made from the official account, local publication On Manorama reported.

Balram has informed KPCC president Sunny Joseph of the same, amid heavy criticism over an X (Twitter) post that allegedly mocked Bihar after the reduced GST rates for bidis, the report added.

The quickly deleted post, included a graphic that outlined the proposed GST hike on cigars, cigarettes and tobacco from 28 per cent to 40 per cent, and a reduction for bidis to 18 per cent, with the caption: “Bidis and Bihar begin with B. Cannot be considered a sin any more.” Sin here is the reference to “sin goods” that are taxed along with luxury items, at the highest special slab of 40 per cent.

(This is a developing story, more updates coming…)