Ahead of 2014 polls, Rahul Gandhi ropes in Rajiv’s Media Man

Ahead of 2014 polls, Rahul Gandhi ropes in Rajiv’s Media Man

NEW DELHI: Ahead of parliamentary elections, Congress has changed tack on its media strategy. It is no longer relying solely on senior leaders for briefing and training its spokespersons.

On party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s insistence, the party has brought in media strategists to provide professional inputs at brainstorming sessions. Apart from daily morning discussions on political issues, these strategists have been sharing the industry’s point of view on important economic issues.

The induction of professionals into the party’s media strategising has seen the comeback of Rajiv Desai, founder of I-PAN public relations agency, who used to advise exprime minister Rajiv Gandhi on media matters during parliamentary elections.

Desai had gained considerable influence in Congress and found a place in the party’s media committees headed by Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni. But gradually he fell out of favour with the Congress high command.

Over the past two months though, Desai has been a regular in the communication department sessions, giving feedback on articles on new media, performance of party’s spokespersons in news briefings at Congress headquarters and economic issues, a person familiar with the matter said. The strategist has won Gandhi’s trust especially because of his adeptness at new media and social networking sites.

AP Parigi, a well-known telecom, media and entertainment industry professional, is also helping the party in its media strategy. The strategists have been providing an invaluable outsider’s perspective on complex issues such as projecting a PM candidate and economic issues such as sharp depreciation of the rupee.

“It is like opening a new window for exchange of views,” said a senior Congress leader. “In the party there is a certain way of looking at things. When we are involved in a project we look at it in a unidimensional way, the way we have been dealing with it for years. Professional inputs from media strategists help us in looking at issues differently.”

These strategists have brought about a complete change in the way the party’s communication department is functioning. Earlier, Congress spokespersons used to have just a formal briefing with the general secretary in-charge minutes before the press conference at party headquarters.

In case of major political issues, these briefings would take place slightly earlier in the day and the party would specify its stance to the spokespersons. Now, a written brief is prepared after scanning the newspapers.

The party is waking up to the reality of its leaders shooting off their mouths. A gag order has, therefore, been issued and only spokespersons and TV panelists are allowed to participate in debates.

Even so, two party members have been assigned to draw up a list of panelists for each channel every day. “A proper chart is drawn up. So you don’t send an Andhra specialist to speak on Muzaffarnagar riots; you send a Union minister from UP,” said a leader involved in media planning.

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Sonia Gandhi unwell, Rahul overwhelmed, require Priyanka, said Congress hoardings

Lucknow: The Indian National Congress in Uttar Pradesh has been humiliated by a sprinkling of hoardings that proclaim party president Sonia Gandhi is unwell, and urge her girl Priyanka to run for office from the body electorate of Phoolpur, once spoke to by her extraordinary granddad and previous Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The hoardings that surfaced in the rich Civil Lines zone of Lucknow on Tuesday have been pulled down.

They alluded to Mrs Gandhi, who flies out sporadically to the Us for therapeutic check-ups, her child Rahul Gadhi who is Congress Vice-President and is heading the gathering's battle for the national decisions, and Priyanka, who has said in the past that she will crusade for the gathering however won't challenge races.

The content on the hoardings pronounces: "Maiya ab Rahti Beemar, Bhaiya par badh gaya bhaar, Priyanka Phoolpur se bano ummedwaar, party ka karo prachaar, Congress ki sarkaar banao teesri baar (Mother is regularly sick now, sibling (Rahul Gandhi) is over loaded, Priyanka turn into the competitor from Phoolpur and crusade for the gathering, help the Congress get elected for the third time).

Mrs Gandhi, 66, experienced surgery in the United States for an undisclosed affliction in August 2011. Her gathering has not affirmed media reports that she was treated for growth at New York's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.  She last ventured out to the Us for a medicinal weigh up in September.

Congress sources say that in Lucknow, area secretary Haseeb Ahmad and party guide Shreesh Chandra Dubey have been asked to demonstrate for what good reason they ran to town with the disputable hoardings.

Rahul Gandhi, the future of the congress

As the newest hot news stories hit the screens as Baba Ramdev dismisses

Rahul Gandhi as of being even a slight competition to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, it is quiet widely known fact that it is not so. The Vice President of the AICC, and the seemingly future leader of the congress party itself, Rahul Gandhi is not a person who someone should be underestimating. However, recent comments from Modi confirms the level of excessive confidence that his party and he is apparently sharing. With his latest taunts of "burqa of secularism" clearly points to it.

Unfortunately, there lies the undeniable fact of how the congress party has achieved nothing in the Uttar Pradesh elections despite spending years trying, all they could manage was to win 6 more seats than they did in 2007. This stands uncomfortably as a smudge on the image of Rahul Gandhi.

But the person himself, always dressed in the pristine white kurtas, with the earnest looking glasses, is nothing but the future promise to not only the congress party, but also to the country. Even though his efforts in UP didn't bear fruit as much as he would've liked, he indeed was successful in attracting the eyes, when he visited the Dalit huts and ate food from there. 

He had infact succeeded, though in smaller proportions, to get the public attention which they dearly needed in the state where previously, the existance of the party was nearly nonexistent. He also succeeded to reasonable measures to attract public attention with his recent "padayatra" organized in the state. But as it turned out the bulk of the attention he attracted didn't seem to have converted into votes.

Despite his efforts, Rahul Gandhi still stands out as an outsider to the common people of the state of Uttar Pradesh. To them, he's just the outsider barging in occasionally just to collect their votes. This could probably be the reason of the less than impressive result the Congress party got from the recent elections in the state. 

The fact of him being an outsider stand heavily on the failure of the party when it gets to be compared to the charisma of leaders like Narendra Modi or Nitish Kumar of the NDA. It is also a troubling fact for the Congress party, that the local Congress leadership in the state is so inefficient that they manage to ruin any positive effects Rahul Gandhi was able to build up and develop through his yatras and campaigns.

With the combined effort from local as well as the national leadership, the Congress and Rahul Gandhi hopefully will succeed in UP. His success in the national arena is something to be anticipated. The great leader as he is, he just can't be blindly ruled out as a not enough competent competition for political giants like Narendra Modi. It's a game of wits and selflessness, not just strength and dumb luck. And when the time is right, the rich political ancestry he has will be a helping factor in his future growth in the politics.

Memorable Quotes From Rajiv Gandhi And On Rajiv Gandhi

Statesmen are always determined to see the distant future and mold society accordingly. The always lead the society and are never led by the masses. They are visionaries who generate projections. These are expressed and their followers are expected to translate them into action. Their thoughts are expressed in many fora. They are recorded and revisited for introspection and emulation. In this regard, Rajiv Gandhi is a remarkable leader of this century. His prophetic vision and foresightedness have made India strong today. In one of his speeches he observed: "We have missed the Industrial Revolution, but we cannot miss the IT Revolution".

 

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Rahul Gandhi in a question-answer session

Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi addressed a question-answer session during a work shop organized by NSUI. One participant asked why India should depend on America as India is capable to develop herself. Rahul Gandhi answered that we should not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. We are not dependant on any other country and we do not want any favour, but we are only acting diplomatically. Our strength is we have a young and educated population.

"Change your polices" Rahul Gandhi tells U.P. Govt.

Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi asked the Government of Uttar Pradesh to change policies to benefit the poor. He said that farmers should not be looted in the name of development. No farmers are against development, Rahul Gandhi added. But they should get the proper price for their land said Rahul Gandhi while addressing a gathering in U.P. Rahul Gandhi was on a padyatra to personally experience the problems of the farmers at various places. There were a lot of reported police atrocities against the striking farmers in many places of Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi undertook his mission to protect the interest of the farmers. The villagers thanked Rahul Gandhi for his fight for their rights.

Rahul Gandhi on quality education

Congress General Secretary addressing a NSUI workshop. Many student activists asked various questions to Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi while answering a specific question insisted to ensure quality in our education system and also wanted more good and reputed institutes. For the proper development of the nation we need to have more quality education said Rahul Gandhi.