Crorepati BRS MLAs will be targeted: BJP creates Social Media team ahead of elections

Hyderabad: Bharatiya Janata Party in Telangana has announced its social media team aka SM army for the ensuing state assembly election. The social media team was announced even as the party is yet to release the list of candidates.

Newly appointed Telangana BJP president and Union Minister G Kishen Reddy has appointed Nizamabad MP Aravind Dharmapur, Dr. Boora Narsaiah Goud. Ex.MP, Vedire Sriram, Poreddy Kishore Reddy, and G Yoganand to lead the IT and social media team under various categories. The team consists of 34 members excluding the district and divisional teams.

The BJP which is known to have a robust social media army is yet to finalize the list of candidates for 119 Telangana assembly segments.

In the majority of the elections and by-elections in Telangana, it is seen how the saffron party dominates social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Among the many election strategies are creating multiple Facebook fan pages, countering and cross-countering on Twitter, cross-platform trolling of the opponent, Videos, and beyond. The social media team holds a bank of information about the opponent including the background, criminal cases, assets, and list of failures (if any). However, many times the BJP SM team is plagued with fake news and is caught unaware when a fact-check is done. In a couple of the incidents, unrelated videos, images, or rather old videos are passed off as present. The SM team is also known for its widespread communal content.

The IT and social media team, given any political party, work akin to 'Honey bees' where the mother bee is supreme. The team maintains a main Whatsapp group where directions are given daily. It is this group that decides, approves content, and even gives a go-ahead signal to counter or troll. While many journalists are also primarily targets besides the opposition.

The BJP's online army has been divided into three categories, namely -the IT Team, the Social media team, and the Data and call center.

Speaking to NewsMeter Ex MP Borra Narsaiah Goud explained: "MP Aravind Dharmapur, Vedire Sriram, Poreddy Kishore Reddy, G Yoganand and myself will work as advisers. We have zeroed down on five topics, 1. Propagate the BJP government's people-friendly schemes and how the public is benefitting from them, 2. How the Telangana model is ruining democracy. 3. How Congress's declaration does not collaborate with the budget of existing availability of funds. 4. Expose every MLA that has turned a millionaire, courtesy to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and lastly preach the BJP's Manifesto for the state to every household in Telangana.”

He said social media will create posters, reels, short videos, and Youtube videos The team will be divided at district and mandal levels, and will reach out to 34,7000 polling stations".

Asked if BJP Social media head Amit Malviya's team will be working with the Telangana setup, he said: “Delhi team will help in creativity however it is the state leaders who will finalize the content.”

Each volunteer will expose every MLA who turned a millionaire in Telangana. The Saffron party usually seeks the help of Mandal and booth-level volunteers to disseminate content in local WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages.

On the list of candidates, the Ex-MP said: "The list may be announced in phase wise manner. Usually, the BJP announces candidates a month before the elections. However given the BRS and Congress have finalized the list, the first list of candidates will be announced soon.”

BJP's Social Media Team--

List of team members-----

1.IT Team

Prakash Babu K-Convenor

Rahul Nethikar- Joint Convenor

Sandeep Mishra

Ramakrishna

Sid Annishetty

Sannith Reddy

M Rajashekhar

Ram Prasad Goud

Vishnu Vardhan Reddy

2. Social media Team

Sumiram Komarraju- Joint Convenor

Mayurath- Joint Convenor

Sagar Goud- Joint Convenor

Girish Daramon- Joint Convenor

Krishna Kumar

Rakesh Burgula

Praful

Sandeep Takur

Niranjan Goud

Sai Mettapally

G Shashank Sharma

3. Data & Call Centre Team

Bharath Reddy Ravula- Convenor

Rajasekhar Asireddy- Joint Convenor

Ayodya Ram- Joint Convenor

Tarun Singh

Samudrala Naveen

Anil, Call Centre

Akkala Devi Ajay Kumar

B. Ashwinchandra