10 Most Social Media Savvy Politicians in India

10 Mamata Banerjee.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hasn't caught the Twitter bug yet, but she loves her Facebook. And FB seems to like her back as her page has garnered over 282,000 likes. The Trinamool Congress chief has been using this medium quite well, we must say.From wishing people on all the major festivals, to expressing her views on national and international events, to posting images of almost all her outings and ofcourse expressing her outrage over many many things, Didi's posts keep on coming thick and hard. DO not expect great English though.

9 Naveen Jindal

Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and an MP from Kurukshetra, Haryana, the young (age 43, which is very very young as per standards of Indian politics) politician has built quite a social media profile. A very well built and maintained website offer a glimpse into all his political activities and comes across as rather engaging. It urges people to connect with him and with latest photos, blog posts, videos and news items. A PR exercise well done. The MP also has nearly 61,000 followers on Twitter. 

8 Milind Deora

The young Minister of state has nearly 65,000 followers on Twitter and neatly functioning website that fulfill the purpose of making people aware of his engagements and work. A snazzy Twitter profile description though. Minister of State, Communications & IT and Shipping, Government of India; MP, Mumbai; Musician.Yes, there is even a picture of Milind Deora playing the guitar. Guess he is aiming for the elusive youth connect

7 Varun Gandhi

The controversial(read hate speech) young BJP leader, often called the 'other Gandhi', has surely made his presence felt on social media. With nearly 1 lakh followers on Twitter, the newly anointed General Secretary of BJP shares his personal views using the medium at the same time telling his followers about his public engagements. Hiswebsite proclaims he is the only hope for young India and has links to his videos, interviews and images(strictly work though, no personal gallery here). The fun interesting part? Do check out his family tree on the bottom right corner of his home page that traces his lineage from Motilal Nehru.

6 Arvind Kejriwal

The budding politician, as we can call him, Arvind Kejriwal has a sizable following on Twitter, with close to 3 lakh followers. The anti-corruption crusader tweets relentlessly about the misdemeanours of our politicians as well as the activities of his political party-the Aam Aadmi Party. His account is the one to watch when he is about o launch into his trademark exposes on corruption.

5 Omar Abdullah

The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir is quite popular on Twitter with nearly 2.5 lakh follwers. As mentioned in his profile description, which reads,"I am currently CM of J&K; tweets are my own but more often than not the line blurs :-) Retweets just mean something interested me", his Twitter feed show a very personal side of the young (43 years of age) leader. Ofcourse, he tweets about his official work, but many a times, a random tweet about the beauty of the Kashmir valley accompanied by a picture, or the revelation that he would be supporting Pune in the ongoing IPL tournament are bound to win him many more fans on social media.

4 Sushma Swaraj

The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, firebrand Sushma Swaraj's Twitter following can even put some veteran leaders and many youngsters to shame. With nearly 4.5 followers, Swaraj uses this medium to take the case of the ruling Congress. Her passionate speeches in the Parliament and equally fervent tweets here make her one of the most socially recognizable politicians around.

3 Manmohan Singh

We are quite sure some government official at the PMO being paid well to put out these tweets on behalf of our PM-Dr Manmohan Singh, but they seem to work as his Twitter profile has over 5 lakh followers.The tweets are rather mundane though. Just official statements from the PMO and Manmohan Singh's latest pictures, remarks and quotes

2 Shashi Tharoor

The poster boy of social media connect amongst the political class (not cattle class, mind you), the Minsiter of state has the highest number of Twitter followers, with nearly 17 lakh people following him on Twitter. But the medium has landed him in trouble in the past and he now treads a cautious path with mostly work related tweets. His website too offers glimpses of Tharoor the politician, but along with that, is a good repository of his articles and self-authored book 

1 Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi's website page

And we have the man himself. He may have the second highest number of Twitter followers, but the PM in waiting wins the social media crown hands down for his 360 degree connect. With a website, an active Facebook page, a YouTube channel and a blog to boot, the Gujarat CM's social media presence doesn't leave out anything.Special mention should be given to his website, which can put even professional company-run websites to shame.And though Modi may have come in second in terms of Twitter followers, he wins hands down on Facebook, with nearly 15 lakh followers.People are made aware through so many channels, what Modi is thinking, what is he doing and more importantly what he is saying. With 2014 looming large, his campaign to establish a social connect is bound to work in his favour ,no doubt.