Twitter battles rage over #NaMo

Hours before Narendra Modi was named the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s prime ministerial candidate on Friday, the countdown for it had already begun in the social media world, with the Twitterati busy either rooting for or lampooning the Gujarat chief minister on #NaMo.

All day, BJP and Congress trolls kept trading blows.

A hashtag trending since morning was #BJPKiPareshani - one tweet read: "Having leaders like #Advani is such a pain! Can we just clone Modi so each leader is just him?" Another said: "Special court gives death sentence in #DelhiGangRape. Special court of BJP, RSS gives political death sentence to #Advani. #BJPKiPareshani".

An ardent Modi supporter from Toronto tweeted he wouldn't sleep until Modi was crowned the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. Soon after the announcement was made, the #NaMo chorus started. "Now, official celebration started...Chant #NaMo Chant #NaMo Chant #NaMo Chant #NaMo Chant #NaMo Chant #NaMo Chant #NaMo Chant #NaMo," tweeted one.

"Congratulations to all nationalists! #NaMo declared BJP's PM candidate! The real fight begins now. #NaMo4PM," read a tweet.

The pro-#NaMo wave swept the social media. "#NaMo4PM! :)BJP made the right decision at the right time!! #NaMo, the man who is gonna take Bharath 2 great heights! congrats @narendramodi ji!"

Voices from the opposing camp, too, made their thoughts public. Sombre Chevalier ?@ImFilmmaker tweeted, "Today #BJP will officially embrace communalism & appoint #Namo as their PM candidate. What a way to shoot urself in foot :)" One Liners ?@one1iners tweeted, "#NaMo has won #Gujarat first by polarising #BJP, but #Delhi is not #Gandhinagar. And #Advani is not #Keshubhai. And we are not idiots."

Senior BJP leader L K Advani, who opposed Modi's elevation, also figured in the Twitter world, with many either commiserating with the senior leader or lambasting him for being a hurdle in Modi's path.