A rude awakening for Cong on social media power?

As concerns over the party's lack of presence on social media was expressed in presence of Gandhi during discussions within the sub-group on organisational issues, party MP Shantaram Naik went up to him with a tablet and showed him that 3000 odd tweets were posted against Gandhi's speech within hours on a news website.

Gandhi acknowledged that the party needs to address this issue.

AICC general secretary Jagdish Tytler said that there is a need for the partymen to counter the "anti-Congress propaganda" on social media and the cyberspace.

An overwhelming view was that there is an urgent need to increase the party's presence on it.

A demand was also raised to set up a separate cell on social media at the party's headquarters so that the "anti-Congress propaganda" can be countered effectively.

The issue of flash mobs also came up for discussion, wherein the speakers felt that there is a need to devise a proper strategy to meet such challenges.

Congress had to encounter the flash mob phenomena during many recent incidents including the Delhi gang-rape case where the government's handling of the protest came in for sharp criticism.

Some of the leaders also said that there is a need abolish district and block Congress committees and format the party organisation as per the election unit set up, which means having a Parliamentary Congress Committee and Assembly Congress Committee instead of having District and Block Congress Committees.

It was felt that this would facilitate better functioning of the party.