New Delhi, Feb 22 (PTI): Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has started following some senior Congress leaders on Twitter of late, triggering speculation over his sudden interest in the party that he was once close to and had later drifted away from.

After following Congress president Rahul Gandhi and the party's official Twitter handle, he began following senior party like leaders P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Ahmed Patel, Ashok Gehlot, Ajay Maken, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot and CP Joshi from this month. He recently also started following party leaders Manish Tewari, Shakeel Ahmed, Sanjay Nirupam, Randeep Surjewala Priyanka Chaturvedi and Sanjay Jha on the micro-blogging site.

Bachchan, who was once close to the Nehru-Gandhi family and was a friend of Rajiv Gandhi, is currently the brand ambassador of Gujarat. He has over 33.1 million followers on Twitter and follows only 1,689 people. His sudden love for the Congress and some other opposition leaders have taken the party by surprise.

Some other opposition leaders whom the actor has started following recently, include RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his daughter Misa Bharti, JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury. He also follows the RJD's official Twitter handle, NC's Omar Abdullah and NCP's Supriya Sule. The AAP leaders he started following recently are Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Sanjay Singh, Kumar Vishwas and Ashish Khetan.

Manish Tewari, who was one of the Congress leaders recently followed by the actor, thanked him but did not say anything more about its timing and political significance. "Thank you Sh Amitabh Bachan for following me and it is my privilege to follow the icon of Indian cinema who we grew up watching first-day first-show every new release. Those days in late 70âs & early 80âs a balcony ticket in Chandigarh was Rs 3. Unbelievable today! @SrBachchan," he tweeted. The superstar also follows a number of BJP leaders. Of late, he started following ministers Nitin Gadkari and Suresh Prabhu.