Didn't realise it was controversial to acquire @PMOIndia handle: Teenager

Lucknow: Eighteen-year-old Qaiser Ali, who inadvertently acquired the Prime Minister's Twitter handle for 15 minutes, said he regrets garnering so much attention for a "wrong act".Ali had found the @PMOIndia Twitter handle vacant, applied for it and got it approved by the micro-blogging website on Tuesday for a short while unaware of the enormity of his act, for which he later apologised.[caption id="attachment_982651" align="alignleft" width="380"] Screengrab of the PMO India twitter handle[/caption]"I was just experimenting to get a better Twitter handle for myself and just by chance it crossed my mind to try @PMOIndia. I applied for it and also got it accepted on Tuesday," Qaiser Ali told PTI here.An aspiring engineer, Ali said after acquiring the @PMOIndia handle he tweeted that he is a proud owner of the Prime Minister's Twitter handle, without realising the raging political controversy that followed his move.A row had erupted on 20 May when the PMO Twitter handle was changed from @PMOIndia to @PMOIndiaArchive, automatically transferring its content and 1.24 million followers to the new account. Also, an independent Twitter handle @PMOIndia appeared after the PMO relinquished it.BJP, which is set to assume power, strongly objected to the outgoing PMO's move to change the Twitter handle and said "it is a national digital" which should have been handed over to the new dispensation as it was.Owner of a social networking website 'Picxter' with over 15 lakh members worldwide, Ali said he did not like getting so much attention for his misadventure."I created a social networking website at the age of 17 but no one speaks about it. This mistake has got me so much media attention, that I regret it," Ali said.PTI