TRS to tap social media in big way to stave off opposition backlash

​Hyderabad: To counter the allegations levelled against its leaders and MLAs on various online platforms, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi has decided to strengthen its social media team. As part of it, the party would now train youth, who would counter the opposition attacks besides promoting government programmes.

The party leaders feel that the social media is being used as a forum not only by people in general, but also by opposition leaders for levelling allegations at each other. There have been instances where social media had also helped the citizens. Once, TPCC Chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy brought an issue of a homeless destitute through his Twitter handle, to which IT Minister K T Rama Rao was quick enough to respond and directed the officials to resolve the issue.

Of late, there have been allegations against some TRS leaders in social media and the ruling party leaders had no idea until it appeared in newspapers. The issue of MP B Suman was the latest incident. Police had said that two women had morphed the picture of Suman and circulated on social media alleging harassment.

However, there is no such aptness in the second-grade leaders and some of them have faced allegations. Before the leaders could give a clarification, the issue spreads across the millions of social media users and damage is done. A TRS leader pointed out that opposition parties carried a fake message of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao promising job for one in every family. “The promise was made in a meeting in Mahbubnagar in a village where a foundation stone was laid for a project. Chief Minister promised jobs to one in a family in that village and not in the State,” said the TRS leader.

However, the video went viral on social media. With elections coming up, the party has now decided to strengthen its social media team. The team at State-level would be giving training to the teams at constituency-level. A TRS leader said that MLAs have been asked to send list of at least 100 youth from their constituencies, who could be employed for the purpose. The State-level team would train these teams on how to counter the fake news against the government and also how to promote the schemes.

The leader said that soon training camps would be organised in Hyderabad. This would be a continuous process in the run up to the next elections and this would be another mode to counter the propaganda of opposition parties, said the TRS leader.