Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru 

Bengaluru, Dec 7: In the plush Vasanthnagar locality, the Congress party has set up a ‘war room’ to plan strategies and take on the BJP in the upcoming 2018 Assembly elections.

The term war-room was coined by a team of political strategists in the United States who worked for Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign in the early 1990s. Ever since, war rooms have become a regular fixture in election campaigns.

The corporate-style war room is set up on the lines of the one headed by actor-turned-politician Ramya at the national level. Well equipped with wall mounted television sets, recorders and rows of laptops, a team of 30 young professionals who are extremely tech savvy are planning the content dissemination and the party’s poll campaign.

Ramya

This room will be the cockpit where the party will frame the poll campaign narrative and counter attacks against BJP leaders. Currently the team is focusing on a social media battle with the BJP.

Since its inception in August, the team is responsible for the #BariOluModi, #BariSulluYeddyurappa (a pun identical to Yeddyurappa's abbreviation BSY) and #ConstitutionNammaDharma campaigns, which has helped the party gain traction. Now, a concerted #BJPUgraAgenda campaign is on to target Mysore-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha. The campaigns are planned in coordination with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's in-house social media team.

Software Professional Srivatsa Y B who is heading the state Congress' digital team said that the party has taken a stand to not push fake news as part of its social media campaigns. Also, in each of the 55,000 booths, we are appointing a youngster who can handle digital assets, he said.

Sources reveal that the party is planning a full-fledged campaign management team in the days to come.

Congress had a war room in place in 2009, headed by former union minister Jayaram Ramesh. However, in the 2013 Assembly and 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party was irregular in its campaign effort. The war room will help in organised, focused content generation and research, giving the party a better edge in the elections.