Congress to create 'cyber-army' to combat BJP 'onslaught' on social media

"We will be creating our cyber army to counter the BJP's onslaught on social media which has become important in the run-up to the 2014 general elections," Patel said last evening during a training workshop by IT Cell for party workers at Bharuch, about 90 kilometres from Vadodara.

The Congress party has geared up to face challenges and fight for truth after "spread of lies by BJP whose ideology divides the people," said Patel, the political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Till now these lies were limited to Gujarat state, but now are being spread across the country, he said.

"The focus of our training the cyber army is to spread in social media the achievements of the UPA government, to bring out the falsehood spread by BJP in the virtual world, and to bring ground realities and problems of people to the fore," he said, adding that their cyber army will comprise of party workers and well-wishers.

Referring to BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's speech at his recent rally in Mumbai, where he called on people to "vote for India" instead of political parties, Patel said "he [Modi] is trying to exploit emotional sentiments of the people."

Criticising Modi for his claim that Gujarat did not witness violence in past ten years since BJP was in power, he said this proves who were responsible for it in the past.

Snubbing the Gujarat government's claim on development, he said there were 18 lakh jobless youths in the state and alleged that private sector companies were encouraged to set up power projects while state-owned power stations were kept shut down. 45 percent children suffer from malnutrition in the state, he mentioned.

Patel later told reporters that "Gujarat is a developed state based on ideology of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. If both these leaders were alive today, they would not have approved of Modi's model of development."

He also said that the outcome of Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi does not indicate that it was due to 'Modi wave'.

Patel said the Congress decided to extend its support to Aam Aadmi Party to form government in Delhi as it (AAP) is eager to implement its poll manifesto.