Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi makes his Twitter debut

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi has made his Twitter debut with an official account on the popular social networking site.

'Office of RG' was formally launched today and the twitter handle registered over 21,000 followers.

"We are happy to launch the Twitter account of the Office of Mr. Rahul Gandhi (@officeOfRG)," an e-mail message from Rahul Gandhi's office said today.

Congress sources insisted said that it is an "office account and not a personal account" of the party Vice President .

"Rahul Gandhi will not be tweeting" but his office will be taking care of the twitter handle, they said.

"This is the official account of the Office of Rahul Gandhi | Member of Parliament | Vice President, Indian National Congress," the verified account maintained.

The very first tweet was posted on the twitter handle this afternoon. "Watch this space for information and updates on Rahul Gandhi's official programs and upcoming events," it said.

It announced Rahul's proposed padyatra programme in Telangana.

"On 12th May Rahul Gandhi will begin a 15km padyatra in Telangana's Adilabad Dist- covering 5 villages, starting from Wadial Village," a tweet said said.

The sources said that the account is yet another window to ensure faster dissemination of information related to the Congress Vice President's programmes and movements, which was hitherto being conveyed only through SMSes or press releases on e-mail.

Rahul will be beginning the his second leg of padyatra on farmers's issues from Telangana region.

"Post Kisan Padyatra in Vidarbha, Maharastra and visits to grain markets in Punjab, the Congress Vice will be undertaking Kisan Padyatra in Telangana," the AICC said in a release.

According to the programme, Gandhi will undertake a 15- kilometre long padyatra from Monday during which he will interact with farmers and women from Self Help Groups and visit their homes.

The five villages Wadial, Rachapur, Pottupally, Laxmanchanda and Koratikal that he will cover are in Adilabad district. The padyatra will culminate with a meeting of party workers.