New Delhi, May 6: In a bid to take a jibe at Congress parliamentary party leader Sonia Gandhi, Union Minister of State Vijay Sampla ended up sharing a photoshopped image of Heeraben, the mother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sampla shared a 2014 image of PM Modi's mother commuting in an autorickshaw. In the caption, he drew comparison with Sonia Gandhi, the mother of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, describing her as the "world's 4th (most) wealthiest politician".

Here is the tweet of Sampla:

The Minister got trolled on Twitter after netizens found the image to be photoshopped, apart from being four years old. In the photo, the 94-year-old Heeraben is being seen held on the arm by a person. However, the body of the person holding her does not exist in the photograph.

"A ghost is holding her hand," said one among the Twitterati in a sarcastic post. Others were quick to share the original photograph in a bid to question Sampla's claim.

Is Sonia Gandhi the world's fourth most wealthiest politician?

The claim remains unsubstantiated. The Huffington Post, in 2013, had ranked her as the 12th richest politician in the world. Her name, however, was retracted from the list with a note of apology. The editorial team of Huffington Post had said, "Gandhi was originally included based on a listing on a third party site which was subsequently called into question. Our editors have been unable to verify the amount, removed the link, and regret any confusion".

As per her election affidavit, submitted ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, she owns a total asset of Rs 10 crores.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 06, 2018 03:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).