Bengal Congress gets ready for campaign blitzkrieg

With the Lok Sabha around the corner, the West Bengal Congress leadership has set up a 45-member publicity team for its campaign in the state.

Congress sources told DH that the team has been tasked with chalking out the campaign plan in three mediums such jingles for FM radios, LED vans and hoardings.

“The high command has instructed the state units to carry out election campaign with special emphasis on jingles for FM radios, messages on LED display boards mounted on vans and hoardings,” said a senior state Congress leader.

The committee headed by senior Congress leader Amitabha Chakraborty, in-charge of outreach and communication of the state unit, will also ensure that the contents of the electoral campaign get translated into Bengali in such a manner that it will strike a chord with voters.

Congress sources revealed that the final content of the election campaign will be decided by the high command, and this time the task of translating them into the local language will not be given to professional agencies.

“Last time we noticed that the translation done by professional agencies were rather mechanical and unable to draw the public attention. So for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, the content for the campaign will be translated by a committee to ensure local flavour,” the Congress leader said.

According to the state Congress leadership, it has been decided that the campaign will be carried out in three phases in Bengal.

The first phase, which will begin in a few weeks and continue till the declaration of election dates, will comprise of a campaign on what the BJP government promised and what it actually delivered in the past five years. In the second phase, which will cover the period between the declaration of election dates to the filing of nominations, the campaign will be about the Congress’ poll promises. The third phase — from the end of nomination filing to the first polling date — will be on state-specific issues.

“A detailed schedule will be prepared as per the instructions of the high command. Separate campaign material will also be prepared for SC, ST, women, farmers and minorities,” said the state Congress leader.