YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is learnt to have decided to entrust the responsibility of overseeing the functioning of the party’s social media wing to his close aide and advisor to the government Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy.
In the last three years of coming into power, the YSRC leadership has not focussed much on its social media wing, though it has appointed a senior person to head it.
However, due to lack of proper monitoring over the activists recruited in the wing and guidance from the party leadership, they had to face troubles, particularly from the judiciary, which is angry with the postings made by them against judges.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), that took up investigation following the high court orders, arrested several activists and threw them behind the bars. There was no legal assistance to them from the party for a long time.
The arrested YSRC activists could bail only after the intervention of the top leadership. At the same time, the opposition Telugu Desam Party strengthened its social media wing and has been actively attacking the YSRC and the Jagan government on various issues.
Since there is hardly one and a half years to go for the assembly elections in the state, Jagan has started focussing on the social media. The Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), promoted by political strategist Prashant Kishor, is learnt to have advised Jagan to entrust the social media wing to a responsible person.
Since Sajjala is already handling the media affairs, Jagan thought it is appropriate that the social media activity is also entrusted to the former, so that there would be uniformity in the media operations.
So, hereafter Sajjala will spearhead the party’s media and social media campaign, not only to spread the achievements of the Jagan government, but also to strongly counter the vilifying campaign by the opposition.
“That is why, Sajjala conducted a workshop of the party’s social media wing at Tadepalli office last week, where he explained how to go about with the campaign in the coming days and how to avoid controversial postings,” sources said, adding orders on Sajjala’s new assignment will be given shortly.
