BENGALURU: The one-upmanship between the Congress and BJP to connect with voters well ahead of the Assembly polls is hitting a new high in the state.
While BJP leaders are on their door-to-door ‘Vistarak’ campaign after their ‘Jana Sampark’ yatra, the ruling Congress is trying to outdo the BJP by chalking out a two-month campaign to market the Siddaramaiah government’s welfare programmes to families in the rural hinterland.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal, who assigned specific tasks for each wing of the party, has thrust a massive programme of reaching out to rural masses on the Kisan Cell of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).
“Over 60 per cent of the electorate are in rural areas and KPCC Kisan Cell members have been identified as the right choice to spread awareness about the government’s achievements. The slew of welfare programmes launched by the government, which is targeted at weaker sections and farmers, need to be marketed effectively,” a senior KPCC functionary said.
The party has estimated that 1.35 crore people in the state have benefited from the welfare programmes of the government. The recently announced farm loan waiver could prove decisive in countering the opposition BJP ahead of the 2018 Assembly election.
“The KPCC Kisan Cell members will go on a door-to-door campaign to spread awareness about achievements of the Congress government,” a source said.
The Congress’ Kisan Cell is forming door-to-door campaign committees at the Gram Panchayat level for the purpose. Each Gram Panchayat will be covered by a team of at least four Kisan Cell workers. A training camp will be held for these workers before the campaign is launched.