File pic: Narendra Modi, Prime Minister to be
New Delhi:
Outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office today said the twitter account @PMOIndia was being handed over to the new Narendra Modi regime "along with its followers."
In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office said, "The transfer of these digital assets to the incoming PMO administration has been arranged."
The BJP had lashed out at Dr Singh's team for resetting his account and renaming it as @PMOIndiaArchive just before Mr Modi, one of India's most twitter-savvy politicians, is to take over. The party said it meant some 1.4 million followers would be lost and the new office would have to start from scratch, with new followers.
"It is ungraceful, unethical and illegal in the way outgoing team in @PMOIndia has handled the transition of this National Digital asset.
We hope better sense prevails, tweets of outgoing @PMOIndia are archived according to legal procedures and clean transition takes place," the BJP tweeted.
Dr Singh's office today clarified, "The twitter account @PMOIndia has been secured by Twitter and they are assisting in the handover of the same to this office to be available to the incoming PMO administration along with its followers."
They also said material on the outgoing PM could be found in a new account, @PMOIndiaArchive.
The transition to a new government has been marred by the row over the PM's twitter account.
The outgoing Congress' ally Omar Abdullah, a prominent twitter user, commented, "How churlish!!! Just hand over the twitter account. It's not like Dr Manmohan Singh was actually using it himself or will use it much now."
Mr Modi is a regular on social media and has not missed sharing a single milestone in his journey to the top office with his 4.2 million followers. He will be sworn in as India's 15th Prime Minister on Monday.
In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office said, "The transfer of these digital assets to the incoming PMO administration has been arranged."
The BJP had lashed out at Dr Singh's team for resetting his account and renaming it as @PMOIndiaArchive just before Mr Modi, one of India's most twitter-savvy politicians, is to take over. The party said it meant some 1.4 million followers would be lost and the new office would have to start from scratch, with new followers.
"It is ungraceful, unethical and illegal in the way outgoing team in @PMOIndia has handled the transition of this National Digital asset.
We hope better sense prevails, tweets of outgoing @PMOIndia are archived according to legal procedures and clean transition takes place," the BJP tweeted.
Dr Singh's office today clarified, "The twitter account @PMOIndia has been secured by Twitter and they are assisting in the handover of the same to this office to be available to the incoming PMO administration along with its followers."
They also said material on the outgoing PM could be found in a new account, @PMOIndiaArchive.
The transition to a new government has been marred by the row over the PM's twitter account.
The outgoing Congress' ally Omar Abdullah, a prominent twitter user, commented, "How churlish!!! Just hand over the twitter account. It's not like Dr Manmohan Singh was actually using it himself or will use it much now."
Mr Modi is a regular on social media and has not missed sharing a single milestone in his journey to the top office with his 4.2 million followers. He will be sworn in as India's 15th Prime Minister on Monday.
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