Karnataka CM to get personal, gets own Twitter handle

Siddaramaiah's office earlier this year had filed a complaint with the cyber crime police about a fake handle under his name

Months ahead of the assembly elections in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has launched a personal Twitter handle. Apart from being a mere personal social media space, the handle @siddaramaiah is expected to provide a platform for Siddaramaiah to avert criticism for using his official @CMofKarnataka handle to push political messages.

The Congress is on a mission to make its presence felt on social media in an attempt to counter the BJP's digital footprint. While Siddaramaiah's personal Twitter handle is a part of the Congress' social media outreach in all poll bound states, sources from the CMO added that they were compelled to launch a personal account after Siddaramaiah received backlash for some 'unofficial' tweets from the official handle.

"The same team that handles the @CMofKarnataka page will also work with @siddaramaiah. We wanted a space exclusively for Siddaramaiah the politician and not Siddaramaiah the Chief Minister. We also received a lot of feedback from people that some tweets being put out by the @CMofKarnataka handle were personal or political in nature. The official handle is supposed to be unbiased and government oriented but now Siddaramaiah has a space to put out his personal views," said a source from the Chief Minister's office.

Siddaramaiah's tweets from the official @CMofKarnataka handle on Hindi imposition, Amit Shah's allegations against his government, communal unrest in Mangaluru and BJP's protest against the Congress in recent times had come under severe backlash. Many accused Siddaramaiah of 'misusing' an official platform to express political thoughts.

I invite you all to connect with me here, as I reach out to you today not as your CM, but as Siddaramaiah - a rooted and proud Kannadiga.

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) August 17, 2017

Appealing to the masses of a different kind

"ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ | Believer in equity & social justice | Family man | Chief Minister of Karnataka" is how the description of Siddaramaiah's personal Twitter handle goes. Siddaramaiah has always been looked at as a leader of the rural masses and all his welfare schemes are aimed at the same population. In the last few months, however, he has grown beyond the image. Appealing the urban poor with subsidised canteens, wooing the literate forward thinking Dalit with an international conference on Dr B R Ambedkar and basking in the Kannadiga glory in his stance against Hindi imposition in Bengaluru.

Siddaramaiah now intends to connect with the tech savvy, social media enthusiasts. It is with great care and intent that he has described himself in this personal handle's bio with priorities clearly indicated in succession. The personal handle also comes at a time when the state is heading into assembly elections. Most leaders of the BJP have personal handles which are used effectively to attack the Congress. The Congress does not want to lag behind.

The handle was under trial runs since July but was officially launched with a video message on Thursday. Siddaramaiah has clearly stated, in one of his tweets, that thsi handle is to express his 'opinions'. Expect some of them to be scathing.

OneIndia News