Critical tweets flood PM Twitter account

If Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai was looking for some positive
feedback on his 17 months in government in his newly-opened Twitter
account, he was in for a rude awakening.
The PM is on the receiving end in his first two days at the micro
blogging platform, with his handle flooded with displeasure over a
range of his government's decisions. On Sunday, Bhattarai joined
Twitter, creating a handle @brb_laaldhwoj, to reach out to Nepali
social media users.
"Nepalese people were expecting much more from Dr Bhattarai butnow all
expectations are almost dead," tweeted Basu Timalsina, animmigrant
Nepali in the UAE. The angry tweeples complained that 'dirt cannot
cleanse dirt,' referring to Bhattarai's post and arguing that his
government was finding it difficult to address the problem of
loadsheeding that began much ahead of his party's ascent to power.
"Comrade is likely to set a record of the most criticized prime
minister in twitter ," commented Kali_da, an anonymous follower ofthe
PM. Bhattarai's way of handling his Twitter account was
sharplycriticised and people argued that 'he had no social media
strategy.'
"His Twitter handling has been very poor in the first two days. He has
unfollowed people whom he followed yesterday (Sunday), which is very
disappointing," Indra Dhoj Ksherti, a social media enthusiast, blogger
and a journalism teacher, told the Post. "So far, the PM has not made
posts mentioning anyone and this shows thathe is in no mood to
interact and just wants to have his say." As of 10:30 pm Monday,
Bhattarai had 3,107 followers and he followed only six, including a
single Nepali. Experts say that the PM can at least follow some
prominent Nepalis rather than just going behind Foreign Policy, World
Economic Forum, EPW, Monthly Review and US President Barack Obama.
On Monday, Bhattarai came out strongly, demanding unconditional
release of Nepal Army Col Kumar Lama. Lama, whose arrest drew a strong
national as well as international response on impunity in Nepal, will
be presented in a UK court for a second hearing on Thursday. "Col
Kumar Lama must be freed unconditionally. It is Nepal's business to
deal with him according to transitional justice mechanism," wrote
Bhattarai, adding that 'transitional justice mechanism not traditional
criminal justice system' should deal withconflict-era cases.
"If you want this, put off your papers from post of PM; if you are
only the PM of Kumar Lama and of UCPN Maoist," replied an angry Anil
Karki.