Users' frustrations with the Indian Railways' ticketing website IRCTC have often thrown light on many things and now it seems a tussle within the Narendra Modi government has also been revealed.

It started with an innocuous-enough post by an X (formerly Twitter) user with the handle @Ravisutanjani posting a rant about the IRCTC website.

"Railway Minister Should Try Using IRCTC Website Once For Booking Tatkal Train Tickets. That Website/App Doesn’t Work at 10 AM. All Tickets Mostly Gone By The Time You Login. And They Haven’t Been Able To Fix in a Decade," wrote the user, whose bio on X says: “FinTech, Startups & Indian Growth Story • Influencer • Past : VP - Testbook | Early Days : @Zomato @OYORooms @JarAppHQ | Growth & Partnerships”

What followed was a flurry of comments, but one stood out.

"It was resolved when @sureshpprabhu was there but than the LOBBY get him shifted to another ministry," read a reply, by a user with the handle akajay25, whose bio says s/he is an electrical engineer.

The debate took an unexpected turn when Suresh Prabhu himself reposted this comment from his X handle. He – or his communications team – had not deleted the repost till 2.50pm on Monday. We took a screenshot, just in case.

X/@sureshpprabhu

Given how seriously the Modi government takes social media – as evident from coordinated posts on every government initiative and line – it is bound to reignite discussions about Prabhu’s tenure as India’s railway minister from 2014 to 2017.

Many of Prabhu’s supporters credit him with steering the railways towards modernisation.

His sudden shift to the commerce ministry in 2017 and later to civil aviation had left many questioning whether internal lobbying had influenced the decision. The repost is bound to add fresh fuel to speculation of lobbying within the Modi government.

And while it is normal to have tussles within a government, does Prabhu’s repost mean he is nursing a grudge?

Another user weighed in, saying, "With all due respect for @AshwiniVaishnaw but railway services decline after @sureshpprabhu tenure. Request PM sir @narendramodi to please bring back @sureshpprabhu to restore railway progress. And this scaling issue can be solved via good SW/cloud infrastructure."

While Ashwini Vaishnaw, the current railway minister, has focused on high-profile projects like the Vande Bharat trains and infrastructure expansion, unresolved issues with the IRCTC platform have remained a recurring pain point for passengers.

For many users, the website has become a symbol of government inefficiency, lobby or no lobby.