How Congress failed to publicise CM Reddy’s ‘successful’ US tour
HYDERABAD: A serious debate is going on in Congress circles as to why the party and the government could not ensure adequate publicity to the investments hunt that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and IT Minister D Sridhar Babu had undertaken in the US.
The CMO and key departments in the government failed to coordinate effectively in promoting the chief minister’s visit to the US though his team did a good job signing several MoUs and taking part in investment meetings. The team secured significant investments, but the Congress government has not been able to get enough publicity and also remained uninterested in countering allegations that the BRS had made in regard to some of the MoUs.
Interestingly, most of the ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs have remained silent when the BRS went to town heaping allegations on the ruling party and the chief minister himself.
The ruling party’s social media was not very active in countering the BRS allegations. In the absence of any major resistance, the pink party went on levelling allegations against the chief minister.
The reason for the social media teams not working effectively is because the backend mechanism has not been very robust. It failed when its help was needed the most. If this continues, there could be serious consequences for the political image of Congress leaders. Meanwhile, the BRS has been strengthening its social media units as these days political fights happen more on social media platforms, some Congress leaders say.
When the BRS was in power, there used to be good publicity for such investment meetings. But the Congress’s feeble attempts to provide publicity or take the BRS on over its allegations allowed the opposition party to get an upper hand.
Old guard fails to defend CM
It is quite disconcerting for the party that the old guard remained aloof and did not defend the chief minister even as the BRS increased the heat on the grand old party. The Congress social media activists could not come up with effective posts to neutralise the impact of attacks on the Revanth.
When it comes to the leaders, many of them remained silent in the face of strident attacks by the BRS. The Congress has 65 MLAs, eight MPs and four MLCs, excluding the BRS MLAs and MLCs who joined the party — but almost all of them remained silent.
When the BRS was in power, there used to be very effective rebuttals for allegations made by the Congress leaders against former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao or former minister KT Rama Rao. The BRS MLAs and MLCs used to pounce on the Congress leaders at the drop of a hat.
The absence of a media relations officer in the chief minister’s team that visited the US has hurt the government. There was no free flow of information that would be of use to the media. There were very few details of the companies whose representatives the chief minister met or those that showed interest in investing in Hyderabad.
Under KCR’s rule, there used to be a foolproof plan for publicity. Whenever KTR went on a trip abroad or any company called on him in Hyderabad, there used to be an information glut. But in the present dispensation, no such arrangement has been made with the result that the chief minister’s trip appeared like a damp squib.
Interestingly, the same officials who used to take care of arrangements for investment meets of the BRS leaders were also in the chief minister’s team, but this time, they seem to have remained mostly aloof.