With the Assembly and lok Sabha polls approaching, the Congress has decided to make its communication strategy more effective. The party will hold a two-day workshop, starting July 22, to train its spokespersons so that they could effectively convey the Congress and Government’s views on various issues to the people.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will inaugurate the workshop and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Food Minister KV Thomas will be the leaders who will be training the delegates. They will also identify the promising communication experts from among the 200 participants who will be later drafted for media work at the AICC and States’ level.
Among the leaders participating in the workshop are 36 spokespersons including those addressing AICC briefings and conveying party’s views on TV channels. Many Ministers like Manish Tewari, Jayanthi Natarajan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot and party leaders like Meenakshi Natrajan, Shantaram Naik, Ashok Tanwar, Arun Yadav and Youth Congress president Rajiv Satav are among them.
The remaining delegates will be sent by Pradesh Congress Committees, as each PCC president has been directed to nominate five persons for the workshop. Media professionals have been roped in to train the Congress leaders the art of conveying party’s policies and Government programmes in order to make a lasting impact on the peoples mind. They will also be trained in using latest gadgets and technologies to convey their views faster to the masses.
The Congress is also planning to hold a separate workshop later for training leaders in the effective use of social media — Facebook, Twitter etc — for which Engineering graduates and IT professionals from Bangalore having affiliation with NSUI and Youth Congress will be invited. The Congress has recently revamped its media department and renamed it as Communication, Publicity and Publication Department. Much younger Ajay Maken replaced Janardan Dwivedi as its head. The party wants to counter the challenge of BJP leader Narendra Modi, known for his effective use of various media tools. Despite giving Maken charge of Publication also, Girija Vyas, who has recently been made a Minister, has been asked to continue as incharge of the Congress mouthpiece Sandesh for the time being, sources said.