After raising eyebrows, the White House has now given an explanation on why its official Twitter handle ‘unfollowed’ the accounts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind among others, barely three weeks after ‘following’ them.

The White House has said that its Twitter handle typically ‘follows’ the accounts of officials from host countries for a brief period during a presidential trip to retweet their messages in support of the visit.

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“The White House Twitter account normally follows senior US government Twitter accounts, and others as appropriate. For example, during the time of a presidential visit, the account typically follows for a short time, the host country’s officials to retweet their messages in support of the visit,” a senior administration official told PTI.

During President Donald Trump’s visit to India in the last week of February, the official Twitter handle of the White House — @WhiteHouse — had started ‘following’ the accounts of President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister’s office, the Indian Embassy in the US, the US Embassy in India and the US Ambassador to India, Ken Juster.

However, earlier this week, the White House ‘unfollowed’ all these six Twitter handles.

White House is the official residence of the President of the United States of America.

On Wednesday, reports emerged that the White House has unfollowed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Indian embassy in Washington DC (@IndianEmbassyUS) and the US Embassy in New Delhi, on Twitter.

It was also reported that the White House followed the personal Twitter handles of PM Modi, his office, President Kovind around April 10, making the two the only world leaders to be followed by the account.

With the recent decision to unfollow all the non-US accounts, the Twitter handle which has nearly 22 million followers is now following 13 accounts including that of President Donald Trump and his official Twitter handle, the First Lady, the Vice President, the Second Lady, the new Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, the National Security Council and the former White House Press Secretary, Stephanie Grisham, among others.

The clarification came after the White House ‘unfollowing’ the Twitter accounts of President Kovind and PM Modi drew reactions on social media in India.

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said he was “dismayed” at the development.

“I’m dismayed by the ‘unfollowing’ of our President & PM by the White House. I urge the Ministry of External Affairs to take note,” he said in a tweet on Wednesday.