'Likes' Matter: Amit Shah's Message for Uttar Pradesh Election Hopefuls

New Delhi: The BJP's campaign for the crucial Uttar Pradesh elections must be built around a robust social media plan, said the party's president Amit Shah at a meeting on Monday. He has also told party leaders that a person's social media presence will be a key factor in determining his suitability as a BJP candidate, sources said.  

The BJP hopes to translate its spectacular performance in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 national election to a big win in the assembly election in 2017, but top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed at the meeting that the party will have to fight hard for such a victory.

Sources said, Mr Shah, who crafted the Uttar Pradesh campaign for the 2014 election - the BJP swept 71 of the state's 80 Lok Sabha seats - has also in a drill-down said that every state legislator must aim at garnering at least 25,000 likes or followers on different social media platforms, and MPs must have 50,000.

Even workers at the grassroots, said Mr Shah, must be active on social media, and he has ordered a separate wing to be set up for this for the Uttar Pradesh elections.   

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP takes on regional heavyweights Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, which currently rules the state, and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, both of which have been back in form in local elections held after the national election, when a Modi wave swept everyone aside.

Mr Shah's Uttar Pradesh strategy will also come up against election planner Prashant Kishore's resurrection plan for the Congress in the state. Mr Kishore, who designed a winning election strategy for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in November last year, had earlier crafted some key elements of the Modi campaign for the 2014 national election, like 3 D holograms and chai pe charcha.  

Mr Kishore, who delivers custom campaigns, has now been roped in by a Congress determined to reverse its dismal performance in UP in the last few years.