Srivatsa's helping build Youth Congress' campaign team across a dozen states around the country, making the Congress get ready for the big 2019 wrestle.
Five years ago, it was Narendra Modi's 2014 win that led to 36-year-old Srivatsa YB working full-time with Congress. At that time, he wrote codes for cars for a living, and occasionally helped the party during its campaigns. Today, he's helping build Youth Congress' campaign team across a dozen states around the country, making the Congress get ready for the big 2019 wrestle.
He says that, as a "secular-minded and liberal guy", 2014 was an awakening. "I was disappointed to see Modi become the prime minister, and felt that Congress and other liberal forces will need every help they get," says Srivatsa. So, he quit his plush MNC job, and moved from working occasionally for the party's campaigns to working for it in the digital space.
Currently, as the National Campaigns in-charge of the party's youth wing, the Youth Congress, Srivatsa is implementing outreach campaigns in various states, building electoral backend teams of professionals that include political strategists, field operatives, researchers, designers and content producers.
One of the campaign team's primary focus areas is the 133 million first time voters, who will be eligible to vote in 2019 -- a demographic that both the BJP and the Congress plan to woo aggressively. Srivatsa says that in all the states where he's planning individual campaigns, technology will play a role, helping him act as a bridge between the campaigns team, the Youth Congress cadre, the party's state leaders and the central leadership. Like, for instance, a GPS-tracked mobile app that IYC piloted in the recent round of Assembly elections to carry out door-to-door campaigns.
Last year, as president of the party's social media team in Karnataka, he build an expansive network of social media workers, with members in every booth ahead of the Assembly elections, setting the pace for a template for the party to follow in other states as well as nationally.
Looking back, he says the party's debacle in the previous Lok Sabha elections created an opportunity for people like him: The Congress party became more open. "I got a platform and the party was very welcoming of people like me. The last five years have been a tremendous learning experience and hopefully, we as a team, will defeat the BJP this year," he says.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Srivatsa YB")
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}