On Facebook to woo youths,MLAs hide age from their virtual friends

When it comes to describing their experiences,they detail everything,from ministries to other bodies they have worked for.

Many of these MLAs joined Facebook recently and employ proxy users to operate their account.

When a young Facebook fan likes to know about the age of Vadodara city MLA Bhupendra Lakhawala through his profile details on Facebook,where he is added on his friend’s list,he would only get to know about his past political record and that he has been working with the BJP since 1980.

Similarly,profile of Raopura MLA Yogesh Patel has a picture of him that shows him relatively younger than what he actually looks like. Patel,though,has mentioned his date of birth.

Another BJP leader,Bhupendrasinh Chudasama,likes to keep his date of birth hidden from his 4,884 friends,many of whom are young and tech-savvy.

Minister Dileep Sanghani has over 5,000 friends on Facebook and has put up his detailed CV on the social network site. He has even mentioned his date of birth,which as May 12,but has left out the year of birth,leaving his friends in the virtual world guessing.

Young party workers say it is high time their elder colleagues allow youths in the party to contest elections.

“MLA Yogesh Patel is willing to contest elections for the fifth time,though he should now give way for young party workers. He should think his party preferred to give him ticket at an age of 39,when he was young,” a young BJP worker said on condition of anonymity.

Though CM Narendra Modi took out a month-long “Swami Vivekanand Yuva Vikas Yatra” in an attempt to target young voters who constitute almost 40 per cent of the electorate in Gujarat,he is still flooded with requests from senior party leaders for tickets,another young BJP worker said.

“I joined Facebook recently and it is mostly handled by my daughter. But I will see why there is no mention of my age on it. We will update it soon,” Lakhawala said.

“I have not put up my recent photo in profile because these keep appearing in the media and I post some of them on my Facebook also. I joined on Facebook around six months ago. Sometimes,another person operates my account when I am busy,” said Raopura MLA Yogesh Patel.