On a February afternoon, a group of Congress leaders sit under the shade of a tree, munching on peanuts. The topic of discussion is the speeches made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the prospects of BJP in the ongoing UP elections. Barely a 100 kilometers away in Sitapur, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is addressing rallies, but none of the leaders has any clue about what Rahul Gandhi has spoken about and the timings of the next day’s rallies. Evidently, the Congress has started faltering in poll management in Uttar Pradesh.
The party, apparently, has not learnt its lessons and despite a top heavy leadership, is showing signs of complete disaster in the ongoing polls. And this despite political strategist Prashant Kishor’s team that is at work.
The only campaigners for the Congress are Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Raj Babbar and Pramod Tiwari. All the remaining former Union ministers and former MPs are on an extended holiday. These leaders are travelling across the state, holding rallies, but not a word gets published because the party does not either issue press notes or ensure that rallies of Rahul Gandhi are telecast live on regional channels. The media department of the party is not even aware of the speeches made by its leaders and queries invariably draw a blank. “We have been approached and persuaded by SP, BSP and BJP to telecast rallies of their top leaders, but no one from the Congress has even approached us and four phases of the elections are already over,” said the head of a regional TV channel.
The Congress has also stopped the practice of taking journalists on campaign trails, as a result of which, Rahul Gandhi is the only leader whose campaign trail has remained untouched by the media. They claim that AICC has not sent money for “entertaining” journalists. Coverage of rallies, perhaps, means entertainment for them.
It is only a handful of self styled party spokespersons who sit on panel discussions on television channels and often end up praising their rivals. The party does not monitor the content of these discussions.
Even the normally conservative BSP, this time, has opened its doors to technology and live videos of Mayawati’s rallies are posted on social media within 15 minutes of the event. The Twitter handles of the party keep giving live updates of her speeches. To top it all, the traditional press release is emailed to the media before the deadlines start screaming.
The Congress, meanwhile, does not even bother to send press releases of the speeches made by its vice president Rahul Gandhi and if the media department does oblige, there are only two liners for each leader.
Four months ago, the Congress had appointed Rajiv Shukla, R.P.N. Singh and Meem Afzal to take care of media management. The three leaders have not thought it proper to streamline the working of the media department, which does everything but its assigned duties.
A former UPCC president admitted that things have never been as bad as they are now. “It almost seems that party leaders in the state have either given up on the elections or do not want the party to win. Their lackadaisical attitude is shocking,” he said.
He further said that poll management was even more important that just campaigning. “What is the point of saying something if people do not hear or read about it?” he asked.
Another veteran Congress leader said that UPCC badly needed a shake up. “There is so much complacency here. If you visit other party headquarters, you will find them buzzing with activity till late in the night. In the Congress, gates get locked up as soon as the sun sets. It is only when Raj Babbar is here that he sits in the office till late in the night, meeting party workers,” he said.