YSR Congress party headed by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, which has faced a humiliating defeat in the recent assembly elections in the state, is said to be planning to revive its publicity strategy to get back its lost image among the public.
When Jagan was in power, the media used to get bombarded with information from various sources – I-PAC media wing, Information and Public Relations Department and publicity wing within the CMO headed by chief public relations officer Pudi Srihari.
Besides, there was a separate team of people from a private PR agency within the CMO headed by I Avinash to interact with national media. There were also communication advisors to the chief minister – GVD Krishna Mohan and Devulapalli Amar who was supposed to deal with national and international media.
There was a separate wing for digital media publicity. And there was a wide network of publicity teams for the YSRCP as well, including a huge social media team headed by Sajjala Bhargava, son of party general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy.
After the elections, the so-called media management team of the party suddenly got disintegrated. While the advisors have lost their posts, the I-PAC team wound up its shop and so was the private PR agency working under Avinash.
A couple of PROs including Srihari are still working for the YSRCP, sending press releases to the media on behalf of the party. The social media team of the party also lost its sting as Sajjala Bhargava could not handle it properly.
Sources said now, the party is planning to revive its publicity wing, because it is essential for the party to regain its image in the public.
As a first step, Jagan is said to have decided to replace Sajjala Bhargava Reddy with some other active person, who can be quick to spread the message of the party among the people through social media.
Secondly, the party is also contemplating engaging a popular PR agency to work out the communication strategies and disseminate information to the mainstream media.
The party is also scouting for experienced journalists who can handle the media affairs and do extensive research on various subjects, so that the party can launch a counter-offensive against the Chandrababu Naidu government.
“Most probably, the party will establish a powerful PR system in the next couple of months,” sources said.