New Delhi, August 27: To mark the festival of Raksha Bandhan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday followed 55 women on micro-blogging site Twitter, ranging from the field of sports to media personalities. The list includes professional badminton doubles player Ashwini Ponnappa, tennis players Sania Mirza and Karman Kaur Thandi, athlete P T Usha, former Miss India and child rights activist Swaroop, and journalists Romana Isar Khan, Sweta Singh, Padmaja Joshi, Sheela Bhatt and Shalini Singh.

The others that are being followed by the prime minister Twitter include actor Koena Mitra, weightlifter Karnam Malleswari, photojournalist Renuka Puri and some BJP members and state government ministers. Soon after PM Modi’s gesture, these professionals thanked him and wished him on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. Sources in the government said the prime minister followed them on Twitter to mark the festival.

On the auspicious occasion of Raksha Bandhan, PM Modi's sister Qamar Mohsin Shaikh tied him the Rakhi on Sunday. Qamar is PM Modi's Rakhi sister and has been tying him the holy thread for the past 24 years. Qamar said that he had not changed even a bit in the last 24 years. "I have known him since the time he was an RSS worker and have been tying him rakhi for past 24 years. There has been no difference in his behaviour. It is just that he has got busy so we get less time, apart from that everything else is same," Qamar said.

A close look at the Prime Minister’s profile on Twitter informs that he follows 2,000 people on his personal Twitter handle @narendramodi. PM Modi is being followed by 43.7 million people. His official Twitter handle @PMOIndia follows 438 people, including world leaders. The official account is followed by 26.9 million people.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 27, 2018 09:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).