Official AIADMK twitter handle inactive since EPS-OPS merger last August

The last tweet of the handle was a photo of Palaniswami paying respects to freedom fighter Dheeran Chinnamalai’s portrait, and the post in twitter was dated August 3, 2017. The faction led by Palaniswami and the other led by then rebel leader and now Deputy CM Panneerselvam merged 19 days later. 

The party’s official twitter handle has as many as 1.1 lakh followers and is following eight twitter handles including EPS, OPS, some Ministers and AIADMK IT Wing secretary Singai G Ramachandran. Post merger episode, the handle, which is a Twitter verified account, remains dormant while the IT wing launched a separate handle @AIADMKITWINGOFL in October 2017 and has a meagre 4,480 followers. 

The arch-rival DMK’s handle - @ arivalayam has as many as 1.48 lakh followers and is tweeting/retweeting updates from the party working president MK Stalin, among others, almost every day. 

‘Aspire’ K Swaminathan, who began the account, when DT Next reached out to him, said he was no longer associated with the IT Wing. “It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the issue,” he said and directed us to Ramachandran. 

Ramachandran, who admitted to the handle remaining defunct, said that the party was in talks with Twitter which has ‘frozen’ the account. “We are in talks with them and we expect the account to be revived soon,” he said. 

“The AIADMK’s IT Wing, since its launch in early 2014, had a crucial role in forming public opinion. The DMK took a flamboyant approach to attack the AIADMK in social media campaigns and we stuck to the target focussed approach which spoke on the achievements of the government. The results are for us to see. We understand the traction the official handle has and we expect it to be revived soon,” he added.