Celebrities' collusive tweets: Maharashtra probes source

New Delhi: The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Maharashtra has resolved to launch a probe to know if there were any covert forces behind the collusive tweets by celebrities of the country.

Celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, singer Lata Mangeshkar, actor Akshay Kumar and badminton player Saina Nehwal among others had tweeted messages in support of the Central government after tweets pop singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg backing farmers went viral.

Many of the tweets by the Indian celebrities had similar wording and phrases which suggested that they were collusive and orchestrated by some behind the scenes.

"It has been revealed that there were same posts by celebrities at the same time, hence it will be investigated why it has happened", said Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday.

There was strong demand from social media users to find the source of the message.

The Congress party had demanded a probe into the tweets posted by the celebrities following a controversy over the pattern of the tweets.

An independent study conducted by researchers of University of Michigan had showed that there was a strong suggestion of collusive tweeting from key celebrities using #IndiaTogether.

"In general, sportspersons (were) more likely to lean towards the government position," Joyojeet Pal, one of the researchers said in a tweet.