Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party's digital cell recently tracked social media profiles of all its MPs on instructions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as per a media report.
As per a report in India Today, both Twitter and Facebook was taken into account and a six-page report was circulated among all BJP MPs.
The report apparently listed follower counts of all MPs, the number of tweets and retweets they received and the status of their profiles.
An column pertained to whether party MPs propagate the work of the government or not.
As per the report, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj topped the list of star performers with 5 million Twitter followers.
The comment she got was - "ideal activity, worth following".
On the other hand, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has 8.4 lakh Twitter followers and received the following comment as per the website - "he is an example of how to run social media, though he can be more interactive."
Then came VK Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Dr Mahesh Sharma who were also reportedly praised for their Twitter and Facebook activity.
However, most of the ministers and MPs were found to be lagging behind.
Ministers like Maneka Gandhi, Santosh Gangwar, Dr Ram Shankar Katheria, Sanjeev Balyan, Niranjan Jyoti, Nihalchand, Haribhai Chaudhary and Hansraj Ahir were hardly active on social media.
Uttar Pradesh BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya was dubbed as inactive.
BJP's digital cell report also highlighted the fact that most of the MPs did not highlight 'government's achievements' online.
In Gujarat, 15 of 26 MPs are either not on Twitter or Facebook or have multiple inactive accounts, as per the website.
In Uttar Pradesh, 43 of 71 BJP MPs are 'inactive' on social media.
Former Mumbai police Commissioner and BJP MP from Baghpat, Satyapal Singh was quoted by India Today as saying, "It's good to be on Twitter. It not only allows us to put out what the government is doing but it also lets us tell our side of the story in case of a misrepresentation by the media, which is happening a lot these days."
And Dr Jitendra Singh, MoS PMO, said, "Under the guidance of our Prime Minster, (social media) helps us put great initiatives like Jan dhan, beti bachao, etc, in front of everybody."
PM Modi has 19.6 million Twitter followers and is considered quite active on social media.
