Congress to focus on social media to regain power?

New Delhi: The Congress is focusing more on “reactions” than “actions” with a calculation that this strategy would help it reconnect with the people after the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly polls.

The party also believes that if Narendra Modi became Prime Minister with the help of social and electronic media, then it can return to power by using the same tactics.

But a section of the party feels that personal contacts, the right political strategy and a strong organisation are what will ultimately work.

While the AICC interacts with the media at least twice a day at different timings, which are not fixed, its leaders use social media to attack the Modi government to ensure that it keeps the party relevant.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is relying on former bureaucrats, their managerial experience and those who believe that NGO-type agitations would help in the party’s revival. But this has not been helping the Congress at the ground level.

The party got some seats in the Lok Sabha elections due to strong faces and organisational network in states like Kerala, Karnataka and Punjab.

The same factors could help it in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The party won seats in the Bihar Assembly polls not due to the charismatic leadership of the Gandhi family, but because of the right alliances against the BJP. Chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav are communicators par excellence and are not dependent on social media.

While Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav have been known for their calibre in building organisation, chief minister Naveen Patnaik has been winning elections in Orissa on the plank of good governance. AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa continues to be a charismatic leader in Tamil Nadu. But none on these leaders is influenced by either social media or a strategy to react on every issue.

Former Union ministers of the Congress have switched over to their old profession to earn money but they can become ministers once the party returns to power, insiders said.

Mr Gandhi, who has been getting more coverage in the media than his mother Sonia Gandhi, is relying on local leaders to deliver in the upcoming Assam and Kerala elections, where the party is in power.