PANJIM: Stung by the increasing criticism of the government, the BJP called its Goa MLAs to Mumbai to teach them on ways to utilise the social media to the maximum to counter the criticism and project the party favourably. The State is likely to go to the polls by February next year.
State BJP leaders, including Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, party president Vinay Tendulkar and 16 other MLAs attended three-day training in Mumbai. Minister Rajendra Arlekar did not attend the camp due to the death of his father, while Deputy Speaker Vishnu Wagh underwent angioplasty on Saturday night. Calangute MLA Michael Lobo also skipped the session as he is holidaying in Australia.
During the session, Ministers and MLAs were given proper psychological training on how to present themselves before the public. In a bid to groom the MLAs ahead of the elections, they were taught how to express themselves and convince the people.
Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis provided guidance to the Goa BJP leaders, asking them to reach out to the people every three or six months with government developments, policies and public schemes.
“We were told to make the best possible use of social media to reach out to the masses. We were told to use technology wisely to enhance the goodwill of the government among the people,” Tendulkar told Herald.
“Fadnavisji was of the view that the decisions and the initiatives of the government need to reach the people. For that, social media is the best weapon. He wants us to start ‘whatsapp’ groups in all talukas and apprise people of the work done by the government. Be in touch with people,” Tendulkar said.
“We are sure elections will take place by end of February, next year. The session, however, had no discussion of election strategies,” he added.
D’Souza said the session was to impart training to MLAs and leaders on how to go to the people. “The senior leaders were of the opinion that we should not reach out to the people only during elections but on a regular basis. We need to have regular interaction with our voters,” he said.
