Amit Shah to head BJP’s Twitter, Facebook army

Amit Shah, a controversial figure whose name has also been talked about in the context of Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin Shaikh killings, is also the BJP’s in-charge for the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats. Vikas Pathak reports.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s confidant Amit Shah will steer the social media campaign of the BJP in the run-up to the next Lok Sabha polls.

This decision — a BJP insider said — was taken at the brainstorming meet of the saffron party on Thursday. This means a clear stamp of Modi — who has the largest number of Twitter followers among all Indian politicians at more than 18,00,000 – on the BJP’s online campaign.

The party is, however, officially silent over the matter.

Shah, a controversial figure whose name has also been talked about in the context of Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin Shaikh killings, is also the BJP’s in-charge for the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats.

The party also took some other decisions, BJP sources say.

“Party general secretary Varun Gandhi will coordinate the BJP’s planning for rallies, including deciding which social groups occupy which regions and what should be the nature of a political rally there,” said a BJP leader who attended the meeting.

BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was tasked with preparing the “charge sheet” against the UPA, and also given the role of distributing publicity material. Rajiv Pratap Rudy will be in charge of the radio and media campaign. Murlidhar Rao will steer the BJP’s outreach to the youth and JP Nadda, sources say, has been asked to tap professionals.