Rajasthan government has appointed Dhanraj Solanki as officer on special duty of social media in the chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma's office. He will be responsible for the social media posts and tracking of social media activities related to chief minister.
Dhanraj Solanki is a BJP party worker and was serving as convenor of state BJP IT cell. He was president of BJP's Jodhpur rural unit.
A native of Pipad, Dhanraj Solanki currently has 728 followers on Twitter. He has been instrumental in spreading messages of BJP across all platforms of social media during the election time.
“That is the reason why Solanki has been picked up for the job. He is an organisation man and a diligent worker. He is a real backroom worker,” said a member of state BJP IT cell.
The government had to issue two orders related to appointment of Solanki. In the first order issued around afternoon, he was ordered to be appointed as media advisor to chief minister putting the entire media fraternity guessing as to what is the media background of Solanki.
Later the order was corrected and Dhanraj Solanki was appointed as OSD (social media) to chief minister. This appointment is on contract basis and initially is for a year which may be renewed.
On the previous Congress government, Lokesh Sharma was handling the role of OSD (social media) to the chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
He served the complete tenure of Gehlot.
Why CM needs Dhanraj Solanki as OSD social media?
The role of social media has become important. Every announcement is shared on twitter first and then disseminated in other communication medium. Ministers and politicians have to be increasingly on social media platforms for image building and reaching out to people.
Dhanraj Solanki is the convenor of IT cell and well versed with social media tools. He can be handy in building up of the image of chief minsiter Bhajan Lal and his cabinet with judicious use of social media space.
The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.