Narendra Modi loses nearly 3 lakh Twitter followers
New Delhi, July 13 (IANS) As Twitter began sanitising its platform by removing inactive and locked accounts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lost nearly 300,000 followers while Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi lost over 17,000 followers.
The number of Modi's followers went down to 43.1 million from 43.4 million.
According to SocialBlade.com that tracks the number of Twitter followers on a daily basis, Modi's personal Twitter handle (@narendramodi) lost 2,84,746 followers.
The official handle (@PMOIndia) lost 140,635 followers. Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) has lost 17,503 followers while Congress leader Shashi Tharoor lost 1,51,509 followers.
The micro-blogging platform was yet to come up with an official statement on this.
Twitter earlier this week announced it will remove locked accounts -- which are disabled owing to suspicious activity -- from follower counts across profiles globally.
The move is likely to affect high-profile users the most. With this clean-up exercise, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) has lost 74,132 followers.
While BJP President Amit Shah was left poorer by 33,363 followers, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has lost 91,555 followers.
Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah has lost 21,878 followers, SocialBlade.com showed.
US President Donald Trump lost about 100,000 of his 53.4 million followers and former President Barack Obama lost about 400,000 from his 104 million.
"We understand this may be hard for some, but we believe accuracy and transparency make Twitter a more trusted service for public conversation," Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's Legal, Policy and Trust and Safety Head, said in a blog post earlier this week.
The locked accounts are different from spam or bots and in most cases, these accounts were created by real people.
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U-19 Asia Cup: Suryavanshi disappoints as India lose to Pakistan by 43 runs
Dubai, Nov 30: Teen prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi's struggles against seam bowling was apparent during his brief stay as India U-19 comprising IPL contract owners struggled badly during their 43-run defeat to Pakistan in the Youth Asia Cup here on Saturday.
After muscular left-hander Shahzaib Khan thrashed Indian bowlers to submission with 10 sixes in his 159 off 147 balls, Indians were never in sight of victory target of 282.
They eventually got out for 238 in 47.1 overs but rising youngsters like Suryavanshi (1), Ayush Mhatre (20), C Andre Siddarth (15) and left-arm spinner Hardik Raj (0/47 in 6 overs) won't be amused with their performance.
However it must be mentioned that Mhatre with his touch and range looked a cut above the rest in the Indian team as he got out for 20 which had five boundaries.
The bulky left-hander Suryavanshi, who has had a very poor Ranji season, just got a solitary run as tall medium pacers Ali Raza and Abdul Subhan troubled him a lot.
Lot is expected of the Rajasthan Royals' Rs 1.10-crore signing but at 13 year and 8 months, he needs a lot of work to be even consistent at U-19 international level.
Subhan squared up Mhatre with a delivery that rose from length and moved a shade to take his outside edge, while Suryavanshi' feet didn't move when Raza slipped an angular fuller ball that he edged to the keeper.
The biggest disappointment turned out to be skipper Mohammed Amman, who dragged his way to 16 of 43 balls and his innings was one of the reasons that India U-19 couldn't really get the momentum once Mhatre was gone.
Nikhil Kumar's 67 was the only saving grace.
In the bowling department, India depended on their two spinners -- leg-spinner Mohammed Ennan (0/34 in 2 overs) and Raj, and both were taken to task by Shahzaib.
Especially Ennan, who either bowled half-trackers or over-pitched deliveries, all of which were dispatched into the stands.
In fact, Mhatre (2/30 in 7 overs) had to be brought in to cover for him and promptly got a couple of wickets, but Shahzaib had done enough damage and 280-plus was a winning total at the U-19 level.
Brief Scores
Pakistan U-19: 281/7; 50 overs (Shahzaib Khan 159; Samarth Nagraj 3/45, Ayush Mhatre 2/30)
India 238; 47.1 overs (Nikhil Kumar 67, Ayush Mhatre 20, C Andre Siddarth 15, Vaibhav Suryavanshi 1).
