BENGALURU: After the “huge success” of his mass digital oath-taking ceremony as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, D K Shivakumar seems to be keen on upping the party’s reliance on technology.On Tuesday, Shivakumar called a meeting of around 40 young party leaders, who are active on social media and enjoy a considerable following, to discuss the party’s digital outreach plan. With Covid-targeted lockdown making it impossible to hold protests, or reach out to people en masse, Shivakumar is looking to turn the individual following of each of his party’s prominent social media faces into a collective arsenal of digital outreach.
From perception building to reaching out to people in need during the lockdown period, Shivakumar sought suggestions, collaboration and cooperation from Congress leaders to up the party’s digital game.
“We were able to connect to some one crore people via the Pratigna Dina digital outreach event. The meeting was focused on how best the party can use digital media to connect to people when mainstream media is hostile to the Congress,” said Rizwan Arshad, Shivajinagar MLA.
Apart from former Chief Minister and Congress Legislative Party Chief Siddaramaiah’s campaign — #LekkaKodi — aimed at demanding an audit of Covid expenditure from the government, the Congress hopes to launch more digital campaigns questioning the B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government in the state.
The digital outreach programme hopes to include scheduled communication directly from senior office-bearers of the Congress apart from regular digital meetings with district, taluk, village and booth workers to bridge the gap of access.