JWT, Percept & Crayons vie for Cong's UP poll campaign account

Rahul Gandhi’s image as clean, youth-friendly leader will be core to the blitzkrieg

With its sight set on the Uttar Pradesh (UP) elections early next year, the Congress has begun full-scale poll preparations. So much so that the party has started scouting for advertising agencies to strategise and execute its election campaign and publicity. Three leading agencies — JWT, Percept and Crayons — are in the reckoning and have made their presentations before the party’s election campaign committee. A senior Congress leader involved in strategising the advertising campaign informed Business Standard that the 2012 UP election campaign would revolve around Rahul Gandhi and pit his clean, youth-friendly image against Mayawati’s regime, marked with corruption.

The party has decided to pitch their campaign with Rahul Gandhi as the brand ambassador. “This will help reflect the five years of Mayawati misrule in the state, marked by poor governance and no jobs,” said the senior Congress leader.

In the last general elections in 2009, Congress had given out its advertising contract to multiple agencies. While JWT had bagged the electronic media contract, Crayons was given the responsibility for print, out-of-home and digital media campaigns.

Tearing to shreds BSP supremo Mayawati’s image of ‘Dalit ki beti’, the Congress campaign would go on to highlight her as a ‘non-performer’. The party is also banking heavily on the youth vote bank. The last UP Assembly polls in 2007 saw a dismal performance from the Congress. The party bagged only 22 seats of the total 403. As another senior leader candidly admitted, “In hindsight, one can say we were totally unprepared.”

This time, the Congress has started poll preparations more than six months in advance. The election campaign committee has been constituted and has already had two meetings, even as the candidate selection process is still on.

The Chaturvedi panel's report talks of bringing down the number of centrally sponsored schemes from 147 to 60, granting powers to states to tailor some portion of the funds allocated under the CSS according to their needs. The report has been circulated among the states and based on their suggestions, will be incorporated in the final Plan document.

States also referred to the fiscal burden on them due to National Flagship Programmes and insufficient consultation with them on the issue of fiscal sustainability of these schemes.

On this, the Prime Minister said, "The projections made in the Approach Paper suggests that by the end of 12th Plan period, the states would have larger share of Plan funds than the Centre, if CSS allocation to the states are included."

The Chaturvedi panel also said ten per cent of the money allocated under flagship programmes and twenty per cent allocated under sectoral schemes and umbrella schemes can be used by the states to frame programmes according to their needs.

The draft approach paper had earlier pegged the economic growth target at 9 per cent a year on an average for the next 5 financial years, with agriculture expected to grow by 4 per cent, industry by 9.6 per cent and services by ten per cent.

"States have also called for early implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which too will be considered once the final Plan is ready," Ahluwalia told reporters.

Officials, however, said mainly UPA and its allies-ruled states made this demand.

Ahluwalia said other states suggestions include additional support for border districts, PPP projects, reforms in the power sector and encouraging Indian systems of medicine like in China, which will all now be discussed and deliberated before the final document comes into force.

"Some states also raised the issue of falling share of Gross Budgetary Support,” Ahluwalia added.