Nation First News: For more than 6 years, we have seen the Twitter handle (@pcsarangi) of senior BJP leader & Union MoS Pratap Sarangi, who has been tweeting on various issues. He always maintained a low profile.
However, he shot into fame after he won from Balasore Lok Sabha seat. He became a Social Media Hero overnight. While he was hailed for his simplicity and austere living style, some others tried to dig up the past by linking him to the incidents he was not involved in.
In a surprising development, a new Twitter handle (@offficialsarangi) surfaced on June 3, 2019, claiming itself to be the official handle of Pratap Sarangi. The handle gained more than 58,000 followers in just 4 days, while the old handle of Pratap Sarangi has just over 53,000 followers. Fans and followers of Pratap Sarangi have fallen for the ‘Official’ tag.
Surprisingly, neither Pratap Sarangi nor the BJP IT Cell has clarified on this matter despite the debate on Twitter. Nobody from BJP has been able to get the “real” account of Pratap Sarangi verified yet. That has led to confusion and suspicion.
A close look at the new Twitter handle gives the impression that it could be FAKE (although we can’t say it with conviction). While the old @pcsarangi handle tweeting graphics with FB/Twitter details, the new @offficialsarangi handle is copying and posting the same graphics, but only after cropping (removing) the Social Media details.
While an official word from Pratap Sarangi, BJP IT Cell and Odisha BJP is awaited, it’s expected that Twitter will soon verify the original handle of the BJP leader and suspend the other one.