JD(S): the‘rural’ party doesn’t want to be left behind

The Janata Dal (Secular) may bear the image of a party with a rural base, but it is now making efforts to draw the tech-savvy electorate by harnessing information technology (IT) tools.

For one, it has launched its official website www.jds.in, and is making its presence felt on social networking sites, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. The party’s lead campaigner H.D. Kumaraswamy has got himself a tablet and getting acquainted with the cyberworld, aided by the party’s IT wing head C. Naveen.

Party leaders are said to have understood the importance of e-campaign after losing in the graduates constituency by a thin margin. “It took seven months for us to make a foray into web world,” Mr. Naveen said.

“Soon, one can get all details of candidates in the fray by clicking the district on the map in the site,” he said.

Similarly, one can access 150 videos of various programmes of the party in the last three months, including the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s presentation of the Cauvery issue in Parliament.

“The website has got over one lakh hits in the last 40 days, and over 17,000 youth joined the party through on-line registration,” claimed Mr. Naveen. The party’s target is to reach 20 lakh people through IT platforms before the polls.