By Anil Giri
Kathmandu, June 11 (IANS): Known for leading a very simple life, Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala finally joined microblogging site Twitter on Thursday.

His press advisor Prateek Pradhan said the prime minister has officially started using a Twitter handle and will be joining Facebook, another social media site, soon.

As of Thursday afternoon, 4,130 people were following him -- including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama.

"I extend heartfelt greetings from Twitter to all Nepalis living all over the world and all our well wishers," Koirala stated in his first tweet. He twitted both in Nepali and English.

Koirala offered condolences to the families of those killed in a landslide in Taplejung district in eastern Nepal on Wednesday evening and wished speedy recovery to the injured.

Pradhan said a team of professionals would handle the social media sites of Koriala where necessary information and messages will be posted.

The prime minister's team will take feedback and suggestions from the users but Pradhan has asked the users to maintain the sanctity of the high post of the prime minister while making comments.

"Social media users can ask any tough questions to the PM but one should be careful and sensitive towards the position of the PM," said Pradhan.

"Prime Minister's Office Nepal is on Twitter's cyber space from today," said former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai, who is popular in social media.

Very few Nepali leaders are active in Facebook and Twitter but those who are have hundreds of thousands of followers.

Among the more popular ones is Bhattarai, who has 101,000 followers on Twitter. Some leaders are said to use Twitter to become popular.