Mumbai: After an 'unlikely' alliance, Maharashtra's ruling partners -- Shiv Sena, Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) -- are now thinking of rolling out a mechanism where all three parties can speak in one voice and effectively stop BJP from misleading the public on the governance front.
The parties are planning to widen their social media outreach and give it a 'combined push'."
NCP spokesperson and head of Mumbai social media, Clyde Castro, said in the new year the party aims to spread information regarding the Common Minimum Programme and showcase the strength and unity among the three parties on social media.
The three parties have come together to form the government. Now our job is to make sure there is transparency and two-way communication between the people of Maharashtra and the government,” said Castro.
He said though there is no official handle of the MVA government on social media yet, his party will work together with allies and post information on party handle which can also be picked up and shared by MVA partners for better outreach.
“We will be posting daily updates on the work being carried out by the government. We will update the people of Maharashtra about each and every cabinet decisions along with party activities. We will also tweet and re-tweet the posts put out by our alliance parties,” said Castro.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said Congress will be strengthening its IT cell for the purpose of countering abusive trolls and misinformation. He said since social media can be counter-productive too, the IT cell of his party will be working day in and out to check spread of any misinformation.
“Parties like BJP spreads a lot of fake news in the name of nationalism to upset the law and order. As part of the ruling government, our job will be to strictly monitor such posts,” said Sawant.
Presently the Congress has more than 500 WhatsApp groups which it claims are used to counter fake news alerts and has a total number of 7,000 volunteers working together. “We have a significant number of volunteers who are working with us. We intend to solidify the cell by bringing in more equipped and capable individuals into the team,” Sawant stated.
The Shiv Sena is one of the first regional parties to have formed its own IT cell and their network only strengthened with time. The party which formed its unique way of communication with the advent of SMS facility in the early 2000s went on to become one of first regional parties with a rock solid ground level social media base.
“We are one of the first regional parties to have effectively put use of social media. We are looking forward to strengthening it,” said Shiv Sena PRO Harshal Pradhan.
