After the success of Narendra Modi's PR blitzkrieg that helped him successfully market the ‘Gujarat model’ in national politics during his days as Gujarat CM, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh now wants to launch a massive Public Relations exercise. The government has started hunting for a PR agency of international repute with a minimum Rs 50 crore turnover to “position MP as one of India’s leading states across sectors.”
The hunt for the PR firm has begun at a time the Bhopal gas tragedy – among the world’s worst industrial disasters – completes 30 years. The state’s Department of Public Relations undertaking, Madhyam, released
The Request for Proposal document for selecting the PR firm on its website on December 1.
The terms and objectives set in the document are identical to the controversial RFP issued by the Gujarat government in June 2013 when Modi was making a bid for becoming the Bharatiya Janata Party’s PM candidate in 2013. Both RFPs set monthly targets for guaranteed favourable coverage and all-expenses-paid trips for national and international journalists. On the Oxford University’s Multi-dimensional Poverty Index on development, MP ranked third from the bottom among Indian states for 2014.
The MP government wants to hire the PR firm, according to the RFP, “to create national and international awareness about brand ‘Madhya Pradesh’.” The broad objectives of the exercise are to position MP as a leading state and “enhancing ‘top of the mind’ recall”, highlighting the state government’s initiatives in the national and international media and build a positive image of the state government.
Madhyam MD SK Mishra told The Hindu , “This is the first time we are engaging a PR agency on this scale. Since a lot of state governments were hiring PR agencies, we did not want to be left behind.” Asked if Gujarat’s PR success under Modi was the trigger, Mishra said: “Obviously everybody learns from success. MP has made contact with the corporate world during the recent Global Investment Summit (in MP) and we want to sustain it.”
According to the RFP, the PR firm will need to deploy a core team of 11 subject experts dedicated to MP based in Bhopal and New Delhi including two social media experts and three media coordinators. The government will provide office space to the firm and a one time grant of Rs 10 lakh for setting it up. The MP government, like the Gujarat government, has set a monthly target of “two major stories from the state in national newspapers and TV channels and one story in national magazines.” PR industry sources put the average bill of the agency at Rs 20 lakh per month or more apart from other expenses. This is apart from the travel, entertainment and lodging expenditure on journalists which will be borne by the state government, according to the RFP.
MP leader of the opposition Satyadev Katare criticised the government’s move as “Chouhan’s personal PR pitch.” He said: “When there is no money to pay salaries, there is no point in doing little work and spending lakhs on PR.” Politically, Chouhan was always considered the dark horse for the post of BJP’s PM candidate. At 55, he remains a future contender and is working hard on his image, a BJP leader conceded in New Delhi.
