Shedding its image of being a rural-based party, the JD(S) is all set to make use of social networking sites to reach out to urban voters in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Taking a cue from arch rivals, the Congress and BJP, which have been quite active on social media, the party is leaving no stone unturnedin using technology to woo voters.
A team of software engineers who are in top posts in several multinational companies, and call themselves as the ‘friends of JD(S)’, are working day and night to post the achievements of H D Deve Gowda as the Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Karnataka.
“We are going to update Gowda’s profile next week and planning to complete the work in another 20-25 days,” said leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Assembly H D Kumaraswamy.
Having tested the utility of social media in the recently-concluded Assembly elections, the JD(S) wants to make use of the cyber world to consolidate its base in urban areas in order to entice young voters. Many young voters were not aware of the contributions of Gowda as Prime Minister for ten months and as CM of Karnataka for over two years.
“Unless we put all his contributions towards the state and country in social networking sites like YouTube or Facebook, how will the voters know about him,” asked Kumaraswamy.
He said many of his father’s achievements had gone unnoticed as he was not media-savvy.
His ten-month rule as the country’s premier saw the resolving of the water dispute between India and Bangladesh, signing of an MoU with the Russian government to set up the Kudankulam nuclear reactor in Tamil Nadu, initiating talks with Pakistan and inviting the Chinese premier to India to break the deadlock between India and China. It was during Gowda’s tenure that elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly were held peacefully and a Rs 6,000 crore special package was announced for the development of the north-eastern states.