Priyanka Gandhi logs in to Twitter

Logging into the social media with a Twitter profile on Monday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi has amassed over 1 lakh followers and the count is increasing every second.

Priyanka's Twitter debut came on a day when she and her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi held a road show in Lucknow to sound their party's poll bugle in Uttar Pradesh, the state that sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.

Yet to post her first tweet, Priyanka is following only seven people -- all from her party -- on Twitter. These include the Congress official handle, her brother Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his deputy Sachin Pilot, party chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, Rajya Sabha member Ahmed Patel and fellow general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Among her prominent followers are former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, among the first Indian politicians to join the Twitter bandwagon, welcomed Priyanka Gandhi to the microblogging site.

"Pleased to welcome @priyankagandhi to @twitter. It was once a lonely furrow for a Congressman to plough -- glad to see @INCIndia stalwarts now all take to it with enthusiasm," tweeted Tharoor who incidentally is yet to be followed by Priyanka.

Realising the importance of social media in shaping narratives and sensitising the populace, politicians cutting across party lines have been using the platform to reach out to the people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a following of 45.4 million, tops the list of Indian leaders who use Twitter. Rahul Gandhi with 8.47 million followers is way behind Modi.

Tasked with reviving the party's fortunes in eastern UP, the turf of Chief Minister and BJP's Hindutva posterboy Yogi Adityanath, Priyanka will be interacting with party leaders and workers in Lucknow for three days, starting February 12, along with Jyotiraditya Scindia, the general secretary in charge of western UP.

--IANS

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