Far from party headquarters in Delhi, where the BJP and Congress are struggling to finalise their candidates, the campaign strategy for BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Vasundhara Raje and incumbent Ashok Gehlot is being give a final shape in Jaipur. Apart from the rallies and speeches, Rajasthan will see technology being put to use by the two sides as the battle for the ballot reaches its peak. While Raje plans to pick up the phone and talk to people, Gehlot plans to keep a mobile control room at hand when he travels to almost all 200 constituencies in the state.‘‘Namaskar! I am Vasundhara Raje speaking. I request you to cast your vote in favour of the BJP’’ is going to be Raje’s direct contact with over five lakh voters. To ‘‘personalise the campaign’’, a few more messages are being thought of. The focus is to tell the people that ‘‘Rajasthan is looking for change’’ and the ‘‘BJP will bring it’’.Raje admits that she has a lot of catching up to do. ‘‘People get four-five years to work for this moment, I’ve got less than one,’’ she says. ‘‘And there have been so many things to take care of, including this candidate selection phase.’’BJP workers say that to bridge this gap and reach out to maximum number of voters, Raje is going to dial into a lot of constituencies. The 40-second pre-recorded message will be sent out and responses monitored. Besides Raje’s ‘‘personal touch’’, the BJP will also log on to the Internet, send e-mails and SMS messages. ‘‘Also, she will write personally to about 500 important people in an area, besides writing to 500 workers,’’ adds Sunil Bhargav, BJP’s media in-charge. ‘‘She has a team of people managing these matters and the idea is to reach out to as many.’’Meanwhile, Gehlot, who has emerged as the one-man Congress army, has decided to ‘‘use his positive image’’. He has the advantage of a large number of loyal Congress workers. Besides using that to his advantage, Gehlot will also make a few phone calls to motivate his party workers.‘‘This time the control room will move with Gehlot, ensuring that he is connected to the entire state and leaders at all times,’’ says Congress spokesperson Raghu Sharma. ‘‘He will always be accessible as he is one of the few people who has experience as party chief and chief minister.’’Since Gehlot has decided to personally supervise the campaign, he is going to ensure that he is tuned into all that is happening in the state. ‘‘He will also solve problems that candidates face on the poll trail,’’ he adds.
