Twitter activates IT Minister Milind Deora's account

NEW DELHI: The Twitter account of Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora was activated by the US based microblogging site on Saturday, over 24 hours after it kept his account under suspension.

Deora was back in action with his Twitter account @MilindDeora, after the IT ministry faced major embarrasment on Friday as the account of its own minister was suspended. The Ministry has been working since a week with the San Francisco based firm to get fake accounts of Prime Minister's Office blocked. It has also requested Twitter to block around 16 accounts, some belonging to journalists and right wing ideologues, in the wake of violence in Assam.

In the melee, the original Twitter account of Milind Deora, the Minister of State for Communications and IT, had got blocked on Friday. When netizens tried to access the account of Deora, an active tweeter, Twitter displayed a statement: “Sorry! That user is suspended.”

According to sources, the government had requested Twitter to block a fake account (@Milindeora) which was impersonating the minister’s original account (@MilindDeora – note double ‘D’), which was tweeting personal comments against the Lok Sabha MP from South Mumbai.

A spokesperson for Ministry of Communication and IT confirmed to ET on Friday that the Ministry was working with Twitter Inc to get the issue resolved. Deora did not revert to ET’s calls and messages left at his residence and office, to clarify on the issue.