Twitter suspends J&K L-G's official account; Manoj Sinha's office 'hoping it's a glitch'

Update at 7:30 pm: account has been restored. An explanation in this regard is awaited.

In a breaking development, official Twitter account of Jammu & Kashmir Lieutenant Governor (@officeoflgjandk) was suspended by micro-blogging platform on Monday. A senior official in Raj Bhavan, on condition of anonymity, has told Republic Media Network that this matter of account suspension has been taken up with Twitter authorities and y have been informed that this is official Twitter handle of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. 

J&K L-G's official Twitter account suspended

"This might have happened due to some confusion but re was nothing that was shared by this Twitter handle violating norms set by Twitter for operations in India. We are hopeful that this confusion will be cleared in a short while and Twitter handle will be restored. We are also writing to Twitter to verify this Twitter handle,” anonymous top source who spoke to Republic Media Network ded, expressing hope that it's just a glitch.

Earlier in August 2020, a fake Twitter handle in name of J&K LG was found. At that time, account was immediately suspended and Tahir Ashraf, SP, in charge, Cyber Police Kashmir h said assured that a thorough investigation would be done to determine identities of individuals, who allegedly attempted to impersonate Manoj Sinha. This account (@officeoflgjandk), however, though not blue-ticked, is official handle of J&K L-G.

J&K L-G Manoj Sinha

61-year-old Sinha was born on July 1, 1959, in Mohanpura of Ghazipur district of eastern UP and has been actively involved in working for backward villages of eastern Uttar Presh. His political career started when he was elected president of Banaras Hindu University Students Union in 1982. He was elected to Lok Sabha for first time in 1996 and repeated term in 1999.

Sinha has been a member of BJP national council from 1989 to 1996. He was elected to Lower House for a third term in national politics when BJP swept Lok Sabha elections in 2014. He was former Minister of State for Railways and later held an independent charge of Ministry of Communication. He was defeated by Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Afzal Ansari in last year’s Lok Sabha polls.

(Image: PTI, Twitter: @officeoflgjandk)