BJP Information Technology Cell (IT Cell) was constituted on November 15, 2008, with the approval of the then Karnataka State BJP President Sri Sadananda Gowda to make an effective use of technology for the development of Party. Sri Janardhana Swamy was appointed as the State IT Cell Convener. The State Convener reports to the State President and National IT Cell Convener. Karnataka is the 17th State to setup an IT Cell for the Party. Sri Janardhana Swamy is presently the Member of Parliament from Chitradurga Lok Sabha Constituency. He holds a B.E. (Instrumentation Technology) from UBDT, Davanagere, and M.E. (Electrical Communication Engineering) from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He worked in Silicon Valley (California, USA) for 10 years and 6 years in Bangalore. He was also employed as a Chief Engineer at Sun Microsystems, California, USA. Most recently he worked with Cisco Systems in India as a Senior Engineering Manager and has an issued and pending US patents. He resigned from his high profile job at Cisco on Nov 14, 2008 and joined BJP as a full time party worker.
The primary objectives of BJP Karnataka IT Cell are….
• Use of Information and Communication Technology as a tool
to reach out to voters
• Automate the party offices (up to district level)
• Attract IT professionals to the party
• Advise the party and Government on IT policy and e-governance
matters
• Provide customized and focused solutions to the State BJP
leadership which includes using internet as a platform to preach
the party’s ideology and also to help the party to get the
periodicals sent across to the policy makers throughout the
country on relevant matters.
• Above all, to help BJP to build a strong and permanent base
in Karnataka State
There are several reasons why IT Cell was required for BJP Karnataka. The tech-savvy President of the United States, Barack Obama has launched a weekly broadcast on the popular INTERNET site YouTube. The internet and text messages were the backbone of Obama's successful campaign. Obama insisted on having a LAPTOP at the Oval office in Washington which would be a first too.
Many are comparing Obama to Franklin Roosevelt who also used new TECHNOLOGY to reach out to people. Now reports say Obama may even create a post of chief technology officer in his administration. Technology is just one more tool in the 21st Century Politics. Political parties are aggressively using Technology to stay competitive. Effective use of Technology is a matter of survival moving forward.
BJP Karnataka IT Cell has been growing with a steady pace since its inception. There are more than 100 active members now in the team apart from several office bearers. Each member is well qualified in his/her own field and the composition of the team includes professionals from both IT and non-IT backgrounds. The team has already accomplished several milestones and organized many important events in the last few months bring great honours to BJP Karnataka. The IT Cell is ably supported and encouraged by the various party leaders of BJP Karnataka who are curious and also proud that the State BJP now has a professional module that is going to care about the technological needs of the party in this new age of information and communication technology. The presence of educated and computer savvy professionals in the party now has boosted the image of the party within the existing members and also with the media. The team has set up several District Level IT Cells in various part of the State and is on the right track to spread its units to deeper levels of the hierarchy.
