| Instead, 45 leaders have been identified who will spread the Congress message during the first phase of the party's campaign, which ends on March 15. |
| The list includes young leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot and Alka Lamba and veterans like Balram Jakhar, Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal, Arjun Singh, Digvijay Singh and Ambika Soni. |
| They will focus on making mass contacts aggressively and not on organising large rallies. "Almost 65-70 per cent of the effort this time will be on mass contact programmes and not rallies," a key member of the Congress communication team told Business Standard. |
| Sonia Gandhi herself was involved in such a programme right now, sources said adding she would address rallies starting only from the third week of March. |
| Meanwhile, the party has appointed Orchard to prepare advertising campaign. "There were five agencies in the race. Orchard has been given the contract," sources said. |
| The party would spend between Rs 10 crore and Rs 20 crore for buying media space for advertisements, they added. |
| Most of this will be spent on buying space on television and radio (once it is clear if political parties can advertise on this medium) and not on newspapers. |
| "This is the first time the party will focus so heavily on the electronic media because of its better reach in semi-urban and rural markets," sources said. |
| Outlining the principal themes for the communication campaign, sources said it would revolve round the achievements of the Congress government under PV Narasimha Rao, showcasing Congress chief ministers like SM Krishna (Karnataka), Shiela Dikshit (Delhi) and Amarinder Singh (Punjab) and highlighting the failures of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government. |
| "Unemployment and poverty are the key issues, which will be highlighted," sources said. |
| The recent court verdict clearing Rajiv Gandhi's name in the Bofors payback scandal would also be highlighted during the campaign, they added. |
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