Congress plan to combat BJP in Maharashtra: Media coordinator for each taluka

Social media was the X-factor for the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Come 2019, the Congress has decided to expand its own media and social media presence to match the BJP’s arsenal.

Maharashtra has over 350. In other words, Congress wants to set up 350 media cells in the state. Each would be attached to the central and the district-level social media set-ups. “We plan to conduct a training camp for the taluka-level media coordinators in the coming week or so. All district-level Congress committees have been asked to nominate people who could be part of the media cell in their taluka,” a senior leader said.

“We want to make our presence in the media ubiquitous. The plan is to hold simultaneous press and media interactions across various talukas local, state and national issues,” another committee member said.

The Congress’ campaign committee for Maharashtra, under former Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, has already set up a panel that will identify issues that party spokespersons must raise during the campaign.

In addition to this, the committee has also decided to set up a research wing. A Congress leader said: “The whole idea is to set the narrative for the election campaign.”