THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Devising effective electioneering strategies amid the paucity of funds being faced by the Congress after its accounts were frozen following an income tax case will be on top of the agenda as the KPCC campaign committee holds its first meeting at the party’s headquarters in Indira Bhavan on Monday.
Congress Working Committee (CWC) leader Ramesh Chennithala, who was appointed the committee chairman at the behest of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, will lead the meeting, which will see discussions on and implementation of the Congress Central Election Committee’s guidelines on campaign strategies in the state. The committee has senior leader Pandalam Sudhakaran as convener, besides 23 other veterans as members.
On Monday, Deepa Dasmunshi, AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala, will present the national leadership’s guidelines on campaigning.
The Congress’ central war room headed by S Sasikanth Senthil, a former Karnataka cadre bureaucrat, has tasked the Kerala leadership with focusing on five core topics against the LDF government in the state and the BJP government at the Centre, during campaigning. The meeting will take a call on how to effectively make use of social media for electioneering, Chennithala told TNIE.
“Ever since the I-T department froze the party’s bank accounts, managing the LS poll campaign has been difficult. We are facing shortage of funds, but are somehow managing through local fund mobilisation,” he said.
The KPCC had recently identified 25 leaders as television panellists to speak during prime time debates, and trained them to speak on the party’s policies.
“At present, only a few are attending television debates on day-to-day basis. They have been advised to speak on similar lines; different panellists presenting different views about the party on different TV channels will only create confusion. Hence, they have been directed to ensure an integrated view is presented,” Pandalam told TNIE.
Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan will also attend the meeting at 11am.