Amit Shah gives each BJP MP mini call centre to take care of PR, paid for by high command

BJP president has issued instructions for each MP to be given a team of 23 volunteers for campaign management | Facebook

An MP’s 23-member team will have call centre manned by 15 people, 4-member social media team and 4-member media team in run-up to Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi: Every BJP MP, irrespective of whether they get tickets for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections or not, will soon get a personalised team of publicists — courtesy, the central high command of the party.

Party president Amit Shah is known for his micromanagement of elections, and has decided to leave nothing to chance.

Sources said that at a high-level meeting recently, Shah issued instructions for each MP to be given a team of 23 volunteers who will manage the campaign — all of whom will be paid for by the party.

“No one has ever seen teams like this on a pan-India scale,” a senior party leader told ThePrint.

Details of the plan

According to the plan, a call centre will be set up for each MP, with 15 people managing calls and sending bulk SMSes.

Four others will help the MP with social media networking, so that they can follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice of amplifying their digital presence. Modi has reiterated that each MP needs approximately three lakh likes on Facebook as well as an impressive following on Twitter.

Four other volunteers will be part of the ‘media team’, assigned to carry out publicity campaigns about the government’s schemes and achievements, as well as those of the MPs themselves.

These teams will also have to ensure press coverage of every rally, meeting and yatra planned and executed by the MP, said highly-placed sources. The focus will not be on the big national dailies, but local dailies and TV channels that remain the primary source of local news for people in the constituencies.

Central team to supervise

The BJP will also have a central team to supervise these teams. Shah has selected a team of about 18 or 20 people who have held important posts at the central or state levels, and know the organisation inside out.

“There is multiple-layer strategy for each constituency and this is one of the layers. It will certainly get the MPs in the groove — just as intense as the party wants them to be,” said a source.