To counter PM Modi's Mann Ki Baat, Rahul Gandhi may start podcasts soon: Report

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who has been conducting video interviews with eminent public intellectuals from various fields regarding the coronavirus outbreak, might soon try his hand at podcasting, Hindustan Times has reported.

According to the report, this is to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi's monthly radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat.

"Right now, we are at the planning stage and are discussing the finer points with the experts and asking them how to go about it," a Congress office-bearer told the newspaper, adding that once finalised, it could serve as "counter" to Mann Ki Baat.

The newspaper states that while Gandhi had started his YouTube channel sometime back, he started actively promoting it only during the lockdown. He had a conversation with migrant workers, which had 752,000 views while his interaction with health experts had a viewership of 90,000.

"We are also exploring other platforms such as LinkedIn," the Congress functionary said while talking about increasing Gandhi's social media outreach.

"Our ‘Speak Up India’ online campaign on May 28 was a huge hit. Over 5.7 million party leaders and workers uploaded their messages on different social media platforms throughout the day," the functionary told the newspaper.

'Speak Up India' was a campaign launched by the Grand Old Party to put pressure on the government over the migrant issue, and financial aid to farmers and small businesses hit during the pandemic. Several prominent Congress leaders were a part of the campaign.