Critical or negative remarks on social media against the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) or the Chandrababu Naidu government in Andhra Pradesh may result in serious action including imprisonment.
TDP general secretary and state Information Technology Minister Nara Lokesh, Naidu’s son, has asked his fellow leaders to initiate criminal action against those tarnishing party’s image.
“The (mainstream) media is favourable to us but we have no control over the social media and there is a lot of negative propaganda against us. We have to curb this,” he told party leaders in a PowerPoint presentation during the coordination meeting.
“If we start taking criminal action against those making critical posts, it will be a deterrent to others,” he added.
Lokesh was increasingly trolled on social media platforms over his public utterances.
“Our legislators and leaders feel we need to curb this trend and so we are studying the cyber laws on how to go about it,”Information and Public Relations Minister Kalva Srinivasulu told media.
