Till recently, it was the convention media that had a huge say in influencing voters’ perception. Although that power is still intact, the emergence of social media has proved to be a complete game-changer.
Parties which were generally lacking in media support saw the internet as a huge boon to bolster public opinion in their favour.
Narendra Modi was crowned Prime Minister on social media before actually becoming the Prime Minister of the country through the electoral process thanks to his digital army.
Undoubtedly, digital is the new frontier that will have a key role in making or breaking political parties
With respect to Andhra Pradesh, the TDP, YSRCP and Jana Sena are sparing no effort to reach out to the masses through this medium.
According to sources, Jana Sena Party has around 570 salaried employees on their social media team alone.
A total budget of around Rs 80 crore has been earmarked for this purpose by Thota Chandrashekar and three NRI’s of the Party.
The TDP has around 3600 personnel in their social media team but some of them are volunteers who work for no pay merely out of their affection for the Party.
Similarly, the YSRCP has around 1500 people for digital media out of which 1000 are volunteers.
While it is the TDP which is leading in conventional media, YSRCP has the upper hand on social media followed by the Jana Sena.
Whether it is Chandrababu Naidu again or YS Jagan or Pawan Kalyan who will be forming the government in 2019 will depend to a large extent on the success of their digital armies respectively.