Ideologically they may be poles apart or choose to forget their rivalry to become a winning combination in the general elections but what sets Telugu Desam and Bharatiya Janata Party apart from the rest of the flock is their tech-savvy supporters fighting the electoral battle for them on an altogether different plane.
The die-hard fans of both TDP and BJP are banking heavily on social media -- Facebook and Twitter -- to campaign on behalf of their beloved leader or parties. The BJP’s ‘professional support group’ Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) and TDP’s ‘Bring Babu Back’ campaigners are slugging it out albeit indirectly on the internet.
The CAG Chapter has more than 300 volunteers, mostly youth, and it has got a portal on the Facebook which has nearly 400 likes and the number is expected to climb in the run-up to elections. And, its rival ‘Bring Back Babu’ is pitching on the same platform and also through www.bringbabuback.org.
‘Chai Pe Charcha’The CAG’s portal was set up in November last year and interested youth are coming forward to participate in the ‘Modi for PM’ campaign without obviously showing themselves as affiliated to the BJP. The young volunteers of CAG have already struck a chord with the youth through their Campus Ambassador programme in various colleges in the city, and were actively involved in the conduct of ‘Chai Pe Charcha’.
Bring Babu backCAG Chapter coordinators S. Bhanuteja and V. Chaitanya told The Hindu that they were working for the CAG whenever they found free time as they believed that the country was in need of a person like Mr. Narendra Modi to replace the incumbent Manmohan Singh. The TDP’s own ‘apolitical’ cadre is working for bringing Babu back which, they asserted, is the need of hour for Andhra Pradesh. They are reaching out to the masses door-to-door and also through the global information super-highway, which incidentally happens to be the strong point of their leader N. Chandrababu. ‘To put the State back on track’ reads the caption beneath their FB portal titled ‘Bring Babu Back’ and it also has a growing number of admirers of Mr. Chandrababu Naidu joining the ranks. Bring Back Babu campaign volunteer Chaganti Satish said that they have chalked out various plans to create awareness among the voters, especially the first-timers. More than 76,000 people liked the campaign page on the FB.
