New Delhi: This is a controversy which Manmohan Singh’s PMO could have avoided.
For reasons still inexplicable, outgoing PMO communications adviser Pankaj Pachauri’s office moved all data created in Manmohan Singh’s term from the @PMOIndia account to @PMOIndiaArchive. The last tweet made from @PMOIndia was on May 18.
This has surprised and upset the BJP. The party’s IT cell chief Arvind Gupta described the PMO’s move as that of a “sore loser.”
Mr Gupta said, “The process of transition of the PMO Twitter account has been disgraceful and unethical on the part of the current establishment. Hope better sense prevails and the outgoing PMO team archives the national digital asset as per established norms.”
The PMO reset the Twitter account @PMOIndia for 7 Race Course Road’s new occupant, Narendra Modi. Though the new @PMOIndia account hasn’t begun tweeting yet, it already boasts over 2,000 followers and counting.
The BJP said renaming of the Twitter handle was against accepted global norms on the handover of digital assets. It said by retaining his current Twitter handle @NarendraModi, Mr Modi is expected to follow in the footsteps of the British and Japanese PMs, who have two separate Twitter accounts, one personal and the other official.
Meanwhile, the security brass is on its toes in the capital, with preparations being put in place for Mr Modi, who will formally be given SPG security cover on May 25. Mr Modi will be sworn in as the Prime Minister on May 26. He is slated to get the tightest security cover as compared to any of his predecessors.
In the last few months since the Lok Sabha election campaign had kickstarted, Mr Modi was enjoying the highest Z-plus category protection by commandos of the National Security Guard and the Gujarat police. Following the serial blasts in Patna during a rally, the BJP demanded that Mr Modi be given the same level of security as the Prime Minister and his immediate family members.
Even as the MoD is believed to be preparing a detailed presentation on the current defence scenario for PM-designate Narendra Modi, plans may soon be devised for a visit by Mr Modi to the naval aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. The aircraft career was inducted into the Indian Navy a few months ago after extensive refits at a Russian shipyard and is based at Karwar in Karnataka.
Sources said that Mr Modi could be invited to board the aircraft carrier a few weeks after taking over as the Prime Minister.
