Hotmail founder joins political party to make them cyber savvy

After Hotmail Sabeer Bhatia has had a tough ride, he hasn't exactly hit gold with any of his other ventures. In his new role, Sabeer Bhatia will be responsible for developing an interactive portal for the East India based political party - Trinamool Congress. Bhatia will be joined by two IIM students to oversee SMS and Internet based campaigns by the party.

The 2009, the general elections showed that Indian politicians were open to adopting technology to connect with citizens. Internet based social services like Facebook and Twitter were leveraged during President Obama's election campaign and political parties in India are certainly going to use Internet and SMS campaigns in the coming elections. We have the current government asking citizens for inputs on expenditure planning over Facebook.

Having Sabeer Bhatia with them is certainly a good sign for the party. During the press conference Bhatia said, "People of West Bengal are working for a change and I am here to share some of my ideas for better communication. The more an organisation becomes cyber savvy, the better it can reach out to people." Trinamool Congress hopes to have a cyber savvy image to attract the contemporary voters. To put this in perspective, the party blocked the production of Tata Nano claiming it affected the farmers in the area, politically this was viewed by many as a step against the state's development.

Trinamool Congress is led by India's Railway Minister who recently announced the country's railway budget with IT upgrades in mind. Here's wishing Sabeer Bhatia all the best with his new job!