<p>Advani - who was the party's prime ministerial candidate - has been virtually absent from blogosphere since the BJP's rout in the Lok Sabha elections last year. The 82-year-old's new post on Jan 25 came after several months.<br /><br />In his first post, Advani had said: "I am excited by the idea of using the internet as a platform for political communication and, especially, for election campaign."<br />When blog.lkadvani.in was launched as part of the portal lkadvani.in, Advani was expected to blog two-three times a week.<br /><br />Advani's colleague Murli Manohar Joshi, who joined the blogger's bandwagon after him, has also been inactive on his blog "Reflections...." since Oct 1, 2009.<br /><br />"The party's focus during the 2009 elections was internet users who were young and lived in urban areas. The party wanted to reach out to first-time voters, who were at least 40 percent of the electorate," said a functionary of the party's Information Technology Cell.<br /><br />The BJP Maharashtra unit's Information Technology Cell convener Vinit Goenka had started using Twitter, an internet-based social networking application, some time in August last year. But his last post was on Oct 11, 2009.<br /><br />"We have stopped right now because I have been travelling a lot. During elections you vie for visibility; after elections you do constructive work," Goenka said.<br /><br />"It is very much in my mind. After the national executive meet in mid-February, we will again start. It is not that its priority has gone down."<br /><br />The BJP's new chief, Nitin Gadkari, who is former chief of the party's Maharashtra unit, has been stressing the importance of IT.<br /><br />India has nearly 50 million internet users, according to a study by digital advertising and marketing firm Komli Media.<br /></p>
<p>Advani - who was the party's prime ministerial candidate - has been virtually absent from blogosphere since the BJP's rout in the Lok Sabha elections last year. The 82-year-old's new post on Jan 25 came after several months.<br /><br />In his first post, Advani had said: "I am excited by the idea of using the internet as a platform for political communication and, especially, for election campaign."<br />When blog.lkadvani.in was launched as part of the portal lkadvani.in, Advani was expected to blog two-three times a week.<br /><br />Advani's colleague Murli Manohar Joshi, who joined the blogger's bandwagon after him, has also been inactive on his blog "Reflections...." since Oct 1, 2009.<br /><br />"The party's focus during the 2009 elections was internet users who were young and lived in urban areas. The party wanted to reach out to first-time voters, who were at least 40 percent of the electorate," said a functionary of the party's Information Technology Cell.<br /><br />The BJP Maharashtra unit's Information Technology Cell convener Vinit Goenka had started using Twitter, an internet-based social networking application, some time in August last year. But his last post was on Oct 11, 2009.<br /><br />"We have stopped right now because I have been travelling a lot. During elections you vie for visibility; after elections you do constructive work," Goenka said.<br /><br />"It is very much in my mind. After the national executive meet in mid-February, we will again start. It is not that its priority has gone down."<br /><br />The BJP's new chief, Nitin Gadkari, who is former chief of the party's Maharashtra unit, has been stressing the importance of IT.<br /><br />India has nearly 50 million internet users, according to a study by digital advertising and marketing firm Komli Media.<br /></p>