Trinamool Congress to use internet campaign during West Bengal polls

Kolkata, Mar 14 (ANI): In an endeavor to give a hi-tech touch to the party's poll campaign and to appeal to the young generation, Trinamool Congress has roped in IT wizard and co-founder of Hotmail, Sabeer Bhatia, for better internet campaign for the April-May West Bengal Assembly polls.

Bhatia, who has been asked by the Trinamool Congress to guide the party's cyber team said: "Leaders can communicate with people through Internet and the more an organisation becomes cyber savvy, the more it can reach out to people."

The 12-member cyber team to be headed by Bhatia will also have two students of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM).

Quiz Master Derek O'Brien, who is in charge of the Trinamool Congress' website, commenting on the latest developments said: "This is not a question of wooing the Generation X or Generation Y. We are trying to use the cyber technology to bridge the party and the people and later on obviously the government and the people."

"Right now, we have shared his wisdom and we have invited him to come after six months. We will try to use his wisdom and expertise for a better governance," he added, when asked whether Bhatia will be working as a consultant to the party.

Sabeer Bhatia is an Indian American entrepreneur, who co-founded Hotmail email service in the early 1990s. As the interest in the web-based email provider increased, Microsoft eventually took notice and on December 30, 1997, Hotmail was sold to Microsoft for a reported sum of $400million.

West Bengal faces state polls along with Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territory of Pondicherry.

The State will have elections in six phases. The first phase of voting will take place on April 18, second phase on April 23, third phase on April 27, fourth phase on May 3, fifth phase on May 7 and sixth phase on May 10. (ANI)