HYDERABAD: With the upcoming elections to Telangana Assembly, the political war on the virtual world has just shifted gears. True that there are no permanent friends or foes in politics, skeletons that were restricted to cupboards have started tumbling out. Be it photographs, video footages or newspaper clippings, not only politicians but also their supporters aka IT cells have intensified their task at hand.
While the Congress, in its attempt to expose the TRS leadership, has been sharing images of Sonia Gandhi and its archival K Chandrasekhar Rao, purportedly taken before the State’s formation, KCR continues to brand the Congress as the number one villain of Telangana, while his scion KT Rama Rao is leading the attack on the opposition in his own unsparing manner. Also popping up are fake or photo-shopped images of political leaders. Saifabad police on Saturday received a complaint over a photograph showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi touching the feet of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
“A recent survey shows that social media will impact at least 40 per cent of the vote bank in the country. The election fever has just begun and we will have a big announcement soon,” said P Jagan Mohan Rao, a youth leader belonging to the TRS and a member of its social media team that had recently handled the Pragathi Nivedana Sabha.
ShareChat more lethal than WhatsApp
ShareChat goes a step beyond WhatsApp in creating impact. The instant messaging app is poised to revolutionise electioneering. “The app allows sharing of messages in one’s mother tongue or local language. It allows one to share content between ShareChat and WhatsApp,” said an observer.