New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata party leader Arun Jaitley on Monday hit out at the Congress for spending huge amount of money on advertising ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He said even if the Congress has not named party's Vice President Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate, the campaign was revolving around him. He said, "A positive result will be credited to Rahul Gandhi and a negative result will be debited to Congress Party."
Here is the full text of the blog:
The 2014 General Elections are about three months away. The election will be spread over several phases. The current expectation is that with the election notification the campaign would pick up towards the end of March and would continue through April and May 2014. Curiously the Congress party's poll advertisements in print, on TV and outdoor have started appearing from January onwards. Election advertising is a costly affair. Besides the normal cost of advertising, several mediums place an election premium on the rates of advertisements. The rates therefore multiply manifolds. The normal practice has been that with the filing of nomination papers, advertisement starts and picks up during the two weeks permitted for campaigning.
Obviously, the Congress party has earmarked a huge budget for advertising, if advertising is spread over four months. Besides the volume of proposed advertising, the content of the message is curious. Ostensibly, the party has decided not to have a prime ministerial candidate. Effectively, the campaign is centered around one person, who is the Congress party's 'candidate in purdah'. In the campaign that has appeared so far, there is no mention of the present prime minister. There is no mention of the performance of the UPA government. It has not even a mention of the Congress party President. The entire campaign is centered around Rahul Gandhi. However, Rahul Gandhi indeed is a non candidate for prime ,inistership (since the party has no official candidate). Why is it that the campaign is centered around him?
The answer to this is apparent. The Congress does not want to admit that it is officially projecting Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate. An adverse result may make him accountable. It is therefore attempting an alternative strategy of having a de facto candidate rather than a de jure candidate. A positive result will be credited to Rahul Gandhi and a negative result will be debited to Congress Party.
The party had a few days ago denied that it has earmarked a huge sum of money for image management of Rahul Gandhi. It now appears that the denial was a phony one. Can an image be built up merely by advertising which is not commensurate with the performance of the candidate sought to be projected? There are leaders who appear good only when the going is good. In an adverse situation they collapse like a house of cards. Advertising can market a marketable product, not otherwise.
Comments
0 comment