BJP plans to emulate UP model for social media outreach in Karnataka

Bengaluru, Jul 25: As a part of its election strategy, the state BJP is planning to hold a social media conclave in Bengaluru on August 6 to chalk out its action plan to reach out to the electorate ahead of next year’s Assembly polls.

The social media cell of the party, which is organising the event, is expecting around 5,000 volunteers to attend the conclave scheduled to be held at Palace Grounds.

Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industries Nirmala Sitharaman will inaugurate the day-long event, Balaji Srinivas, convenor of state BJP Social Media Cell said.

Among other things, the conclave will review the progress of an initiative taken by the party to create at least 5,000 WhatsApp groups in a bid to reach out to voters.

25 WhatsApp groups

The plan is to create at least 25 WhatsApp groups in each of the 224 assembly constituencies.

The groups will be segmented to cater to different sections of the society.

For instance, there will be groups specific to information technology professionals, teachers, senior citizens, people who have migrated from other states and so on.

“About 60% of the groups are in place. There was a brief break as the party launched its 15-day Vistarak (out-reach) programme and volunteers fanned out to the constituencies allotted to them,” BJP IT Cell State Convenor K Amresh said.

In a way, the state unit of the BJP is trying to emulate the Uttar Pradesh model in its social media mass out-reach programme. 

Ahead of the elections in Uttar Pradesh, the party constituted a number of coordinated teams comprising information technology experts.

Regional units and district committees were constituted. These teams formed 10,300 WhatsApp groups.