The outfit he founded while advising Jagan Reddy, meets TDP rival Prashant Kishor » Today Latest Stories

Hyderabad:

In an interesting development in Andhra Pradesh politics four months before the Assembly elections, former campaign strategist Prashant Kishor traveled to the state and met Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday.

This has raised speculation that Mr Kishor is advising the party, raising eyebrows as the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), which he founded, played a role in the YSR Congress’ stunning victory in the state in 2019 and has been appointed by the party again for the elections. 2024.

Noting the importance of the meeting, Mr. Kishore flew to Vijayawada from Hyderabad on a special plane along with TDP general secretary Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh and three other people. Among the three was a former I-PAC member, who left the organization to join political strategy firm ShowTime Consulting, founded by Robin Sharma, which advises the TDP. I-PAC is headed by Rishi Raj Singh in Andhra Pradesh.

On Saturday evening, I-PAC posted on

“I-PAC has been working in collaboration with @YSRCParty since last year. Together, we are committed to working tirelessly so that @ysjagan secures a landslide victory again in 2024 and continues his tireless efforts to improve the lives of the people of Andhra Pradesh.” Read this post.

I-PAC has worked in collaboration with @YSRCParty Since last year. Together, we are committed to working tirelessly @ysjagan He secures a landslide victory again in 2024 and continues his tireless efforts to improve the lives of the people of Andhra Pradesh.

– iPAC (@IndianPAC) December 23, 2023

Robin Sharma also advised Mr. Lokesh during his show Yuva Galam Padayatra (The march) concluded on December 18 after covering a distance of 3,132 kilometers in Andhra Pradesh in a period of 226 days. A similar rally by YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy played a major role in his party’s election victory in 2019.

Strategist turned activist

Prashant Kishor played a role in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign in the 2014 elections and was also briefly part of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United). He resigned as electoral strategist after the Trinamool Congress, whose campaign was helped by I-PAC, won the West Bengal elections in 2021.

Mr. Kishore founded Jan Suraj Campaign in 2022 and became a political activist. He was in the padayatra and did not rule out Jan Suraj turning into a political party, but stressed that he would not contest the elections himself.

Telangana worker

The political calculations of both the YSRCP and the TDP are now taking into account the results in Telangana, where the Congress registered a victory over K Chandrashekar Rao of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi Party, who was seen as popular despite ruling the state since its formation in 2014. Telangana was carved out from Andhra Pradesh and some of the issues are similar in the two Telugu states.