Stay positive, says Rahul Gandhi to Congressmen

The two-day media workshop of Congress began Monday with Rahul Gandhi emphasising on the need to tone up the party's communication strategy and to institutionalise a framework for it in all states ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. In his inaugural address, the Congress vice president said the projection of party's image will automatically boost personal image of individual and asked leaders to focus on "positive" politics. Gandhi asked party leaders to speak in one voice and remain united. He also told them not to focus on projecting themselves as individuals but stay focused on projecting the party. He said that the opposition's propaganda against the government needs to be "tackled". Noting that the workshop will provide an opportunity for new talent to come up, Gandhi advised youngsters to learn from elders' experience. "We have to build new India," he said. The workshop is some sort of a talent hunt for picking up new spokespersons for the party at the national and state level. Besides, it aims at chalking out plans to set up communication department in states and spread the message of food security bill and "UPA's growth story" among the electorate. The programme is being attended by 200 young and experienced party workers including five from each state, 16 from NSUI and youth Congress besides AICC national spokespersons and media panelists. Union ministers P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari will address the key sessions during the two-day programme.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari will train the participants on preparing for an effective debate or press briefing. Tharoor, who was earlier Under Secretary General of UN for communication and public information, will address them through video conferencing about communication challenges in the present day media scenario. Chidambaram's session will focus on economy, while Sharma will speak on manufacturing policy on FDI.

Congress will also unveil a new platform for disseminating party's views uniformly across the country and party spokesman Sandeep Dikshit will apprise the participants about research methodology and linkages with AICC.