Propaganda war between the Congress and the BJP would intensify further after the Sonia Gandhi-led party constituted a six member team to puncture the propaganda of the main Opposition ahead of the series of the state Assembly polls during 2013 and the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
The team headed by the Congress general secretary and the AICC media department chief Janardan Dwivedi, will be meeting on May 2.
“This will be the first meeting of the team,” said the Congress spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit here on Monday.
The team consists of the political secretary to the Congress president Ahmed Patel, minister of state in the PMO V. Narayanasamy, minister of state(independent charge) for the information and broadcasting Manish Tewari and Lok Sabha members Deepender Singh Hooda and Sandeep Dikshit.
Responding to questions Mr Dikshit said the Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has been added to the team.
While Mr Hooda would head a social media team, Mr Dikshit to lead the research team in the six member main team to function from the Congress’ “war room” at Gurudwara Rakab Gandj Road in New Delhi.
The Congress high command constituted this team after realising that the BJP is ahead in the propaganda.
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, the BJP’s undeclared PM candidate, is said to have created his own network of propaganda. It is well equipped, well informed and fast in action.The network is effective in social media, electronic media and the print media, concede Congress insiders. Mr Modi’s rivals in the BJP and the NDA cannot compete him in the propaganda war for the simple reason that powerful corporator sector,a section of the media are lobbying for his candidature to become the PM candidate.
A BJP sympathiser pointed out that Mr Modi is hardly using the BJP platform after winning the Gujarat Assembly polls for the third time last year. The PM aspirants in the BJP and leaders of the Sangh Parivar are finding difficult fo check him,he said. The Congress’s campaign had failed to counter its opponents in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab,Tamil Nadu Assembly polls barring Himachal Pradesh where Mr Virbhadra Singh had on his own demolhised the BJP’s design.