In poll mode, AAP takes campaign against Harish Rawat govt to Twitter
Tech teams of the ruling Congress and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were left clueless when hashtag #AAP4Uttarakhand started trending on Twitter – social networking site – on Sunday morning. By mid-day it was one among the top three trends.
Tech teams of the ruling Congress and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were left clueless when hashtag #AAP4Uttarakhand started trending on Twitter – social networking site – on Sunday morning. By mid-day it was one among the top three trends.
The users, mainly Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers and supporters, tweeted about poor governance of the Harish Rawat government and also posted pictures and videos about bad condition of roads, lack of transport facilities and corrupt practices in the government departments.
“Hospital in Doon has no glucose since four days, Congress Govt is sleeping #AAP4Uttarakhand,” @rikit_shahi tweeted.
Another user with handle@bhaskar2sharma said: “Rawat Gov & the BJP Opposition. Your inactivity didn’t go well with the people of Uttarakhand. Make way for @AAP4Uttarakhand”. As Twitter was flooded with anti-BJP, Congress tweets, several users were skeptical about the trend. Some did not spare the AAP’s Delhi government.
@tweet2_tweeted: “#aap4uttarakhand wondering hw suddenly everythng wrong is coming out? All these incidents hppnd in last few days or jst coz election cam nw.”
Short on resources and human resources in comparison to the Congress and the BJP in the hill state, the AAP has apparently relied on ‘tested tool’ – social media - to take on both the national parties.
The move of AAP online team, which was effectively creative in the Delhi assembly polls held last year, comes when political parties on the state are chalking out campaigning plans for the assembly elections in January.
The Congress has created Twitter handles for each of the 70 assembly seats. “Online is a valuable tool to connect with the youngsters but at the same time we are also reaching out to people in the remote areas and listening to their woes,” said Anoop Nautiyal, AAP leader who lost Tehri Lok Sabha seat in 2014.
The AAP contested all the five parliamentary seats in the state and managed to get 1.5% votes.
The party is yet to decide how many seats it will contest in the next year’s assembly polls but hopes its presence in the web space could give it dividends, which the Congress disapproves.
“Though we are not that strong on social media but still we have more impact than others (AAP). We have touched 23,000 people through social space,” claims Amarjeet, the head of Congress social media cell.
