A few months away from the general elections, political parties in the State seem to be wooing a new set of probable campaigners, hoping that they can change their fortunes. With almost all parties having dedicated IT cells in place, IT and ITES employees in the city are being encouraged to take up party work actively.
There are close to three lakh IT and ITES employees in the Greater Hyderabad area and about 10 lakh who are indirectly dependent on the sector.
“The presence of IT employees creates a far more inclusive atmosphere in the entre political party. They represent a forward-looking and cosmopolitan crowd and will help us in getting neutral people who have stayed away from traditional politics,” said K. Kiran Chandra, convenor, state BJP IT cell and an alumnus of IIM-Calcutta who works for a leading MNC.
As of now, the state BJP cell boasts a core team of 500 dedicated IT professionals and nearly 2,000 registered members from the industry. The party has been organising regular offline meetings of online supporters, besides reaching out to female IT employees as well as top brass of various IT firms.
The TNSV (Telugu Desam Party Professionals’ Cell), with 10,000 working professionals as members, involves its members from the IT industry in door-to-door campaigns and surveys over the weekend in as many as 16 urban constituencies. “There is a greater inclination towards educated youth in urban areas,” said Palem Srikanth Reddy, president, TNSV, and founder of a software company. “We are involving professionals in field work, and they will go around meeting residents, telling them about the party, besides eliciting their views. We have identified 60 urban constituencies in Hyderabad, Vizag, Guntur and Vijayawada where their services will be utilised,” he added. In addition, a mobile application for smart phone is being developed.
“We have been effectively using the social media to increase our membership and support,” said Challa Madhusudhan Reddy, a software engineer and state convenor of YSRC’s IT committee. “It has just been seven months since we started our Facebook page, and we already have 2 lakh likes,” he added.
