Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Joins Twitter!

Reported by Sandeep Sarangi
Bhubaneswar, Sep 9:

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is on Twitter!  Mitra Narendra Modi is the only person he follows apart from a few offices!

The Beginning:

The reclusive Chief Minister, who has steadfastly stayed away from social media, today really joined chaotic twitter if the tweet from his party’s official twitter handle is to be believed. His Party tweeted from their official handle @bjd_odisha: “Let’s welcome our beloved CM Shri Naveen Patnaik on @twitter. Please follow him on his personal id “@Naveen_Odisha””

The account, however, is not directly linked to the party website or is verified as yet. Besides, we are yet to know, if it is Naveen Patnaik himself operating the account or the office of Naveen Patnaik doing the job for him.

The Chief Minister’s first and only tweet so far from his handle @Naveen_Odisha “Jai Jagannath…” was retweeted and favorited dozens of times. He also managed to secure about 300 followers within six hours.

The Goof-up:

The BJD Supremo began by following 8 accounts, including those of his Mitra Narendra Modi (both personal and PMOIndia handles).  Curiously, Narendra Modi is the only person he follows, the rest being offices of President of India, NDTV, his party Biju Janata Dal, Twitter India, Twitter and Google India.

Surprisingly, he (or the person operating the account on his behalf) forgot to follow the twitter star of his party Baijayant Jay Panda among others. Not so surprisingly, Panda didn’t send out a welcome note to his leader even though he tweeted many things in the day.

The Response:

Twitterati welcomed their leader in their characteristic demeanour. In other words, twitter, for all its reputation, was quick to notice and quick to shoot back.

While our sister concern @Kanak_News tweeted “#Odisha CM @Naveen_Odisha Joins twitter! Mitra Narendra Modi is the only person he follows apart from some offices”, another handle ‏@sahoo_pratik trolled “He will track @PandaJay now ;)”

Reacting to the twitter debut, his parody counterpart @NoBinPotNayak tweeted “Stop rubbing your eyes and join me in welcoming the 1.0 version @Naveen_Odisha” and also had a word of caution for the debutant as another of his tweet read: “This is Twitter Bro, say Jay Panda for a smooth ride. Thank me later :p ” @Naveen_Odisha :Jai Jagannath…”

Another Twitterati @nidhi_budha, who has a reputation for writing in Odia fonts, tweeted to the CM in Odia seeking his attention. Probably to see if the CM managed to read it!

Naveen’s decision to join social media, though rather late in the day, has set Twitterati aflutter. There have been at least two occasions in the past when the chief minister’s office (CMO) has had to deny Facebook accounts purportedly opened by Naveen in the past.