RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who never has a mobile phone on him, has become the first politician from Bihar to have 2.02 million followers on micro-blogging site Twitter.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has 1.64 million followers, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi has 9.34 lakh followers.

'First Bihari among our lot to be in 2M club. Thank you all for your love and support. May God bless all!' the RJD boss tweeted.

Lalu joined Twitter on January 15, 2014, whereas Nitish had joined in May 2010 and Sushil on May 2011.

Most leaders from Bihar are nowhere near Lalu in terms of Twitter followers, including Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan (2.49 lakh followers) and Giriraj Singh (4.58 lakh), and actor turned MP Shatrughan Sinha (1.26 lakh). The closest to Lalu is Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad (1.82 million followers).

The RJD chief, however, has some catching up to do as far as his bête noire is concerned. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a whopping 34.1 million followers on Twitter.

On decoding Lalu's success on the new age platform, social scientist Shaibal Gupta said: 'He will speak in a very simple way even on complicated matters, which attracts people. When he was going to Bhagalpur somebody asked him why he was going by train. Laluji said he was hearing a lot about train accidents and so he wanted to see how accidents occur. I don't think anybody could dare give such a statement. He has the ability to speak in a very humorous way, an art which very few people have.'

A team at Lalu's 10 Circular Road bungalow manages the Twitter handle. Nothing is posted without his consent. Strategist Sanjay Yadav leads Lalu's information technology team.

Sanjay, 33, is from Haryana. He lives in the 10 Circular Road bungalow. Lalu's rivals, however, played down his social media popularity. 'He is nothing more than a joker who makes people laugh,' declared Sushil Kumar Modi. 'Why has he reached a stage where he had to go to jail? Just because he has 2 million followers on Twitter doesn't mean his sins would be forgiven. It also doesn't mean you are very popular. Some people like his casual and not-so-serious talks and that is why they follow him. It doesn't mean they will vote for him.'

RJD MLA Ramanuj Prasad claimed the 2 million milestone 'shows that Lalu ji is a global leader as he has always fought for the rights of the poor and the suppressed. People are always eager to know what he is talking about'.