BJP finalises theme slogan of poll campaign

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has hired two reputed advertising agencies to spread its message on television, radio FM channels and the print media to woo voters in the forthcoming general elections.

Frank Simoes-Tag and Utopia have won the contract for the media campaign from among 12 leading advertising companies. The final approval came from the Media Campaign Committee headed by BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley.

According to BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh, the official advertisement campaign will be launched from March 16. The party will begin with television advertisements and hoardings to be followed by a blitzkrieg in the print media and radio.

Frank Simoes is credited with the "Incredible India" campaign of the Union Ministry of Tourism, while Utopia had given some earthy campaign material in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections last year. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had a landslide victory on the basis of the media campaign.

Also playing upon its perceived strength of projecting a single leader LK Advani as the prime ministerial candidate, the BJP has finalised majboot neta, nirnayak sarkar (strong leader, decisive government) as the theme slogan of its campaign.

Singh said the slogan was finalised on the basis of a survey conducted across 57 cities and towns and "not on the basis of the opinion of any single leader".

The party is reported to be treading a cautious path after its bitter experience in the 2004 Lok Sabha election, when the "India Shining" campaign had backfired. "Unless political parties empathise with the emotions and feelings of the common man, the slogans can prove counter-productive," Singh said.

The party's campaign will be based on "the UPA government's failures in arresting the farmers' suicides, economic slowdown, job losses and inflation".

This apart, the BJP will also send SMSes to around 35 crore mobile users across the country. The party has already tied up with Yahoo India for its online campaign.

Besides, the conventional advertisement campaign, the BJP is planning to launch a radio campaign through 280 FM stations across the country. "We have found the radio to be very effective medium," Singh said.

He said the local artists who come up with interesting jingles, would also be engaged in the election campaign on radio.

On the political front, the BJP's has chosen Bhubaneshwar to launch its campaign on March 16. Sushma Swaraj, deputy leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha, would address the rally.

The event is aimed at boosting the morale of the party men after the Biju Janata Dal (BJP) walking out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.