Ahead of Andhra polls, CM Jagan’s former poll strategist Prashant Kishor meets Chandrababu Naidu

While Rajesh is Lokesh’s close aide, Singh was earlier with the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), where Kishor was the advisor for eight years. Singh is now with ShowTime Consulting, hired by the TDP to advise it on the poll strategy for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Visuals of Nara Lokesh and Prashant Kishor walking out of the Vijayawada airport created the effect it was intended to – setting political circles abuzz.

The meeting gained political significance since Kishor had drawn up the strategy for Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP in 2019, which helped that party to trounce the TDP and win 151 of the 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. Singh was a core member of the team that advised the YSRCP.

Kishor, who said he was withdrawing from political consultancy after the Goa assembly elections, founded a political outfit, Jan Suraaj, in Bihar, his home state.

#Exclusive: In a big political development, the political strategist #PrashantKishor, who played a key role in the 2019 victory of #YSRCP, arrives in #Vijayawada with #NaraLokesh. Both have headed to the residence of #TDP supremo @ncbn in #Undavalli.@TheSouthfirst pic.twitter.com/V6YaTpl1SQ

— Bhaskar Basava (@bhaskar_basava_) December 23, 2023

Despite officially quitting poll consultancy, he is still associated with I-PAC, currently run by Pratik Jain, Rishi Raj Singh, and Vinesh Chandel.

The current I-PAC team, led by Chandel, is working on the Jana Suraaj Padayatra in Bihar. Jain is involved in the TMC project, and Rishi Raj Singh is leading the Andhra Project for I-PAC.

Incidentally, Kishor had met BRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao for a Telangana project months before assembly elections in the State, but it was scrapped by the latter.

Also Read: Is I-PAC helping the BRS in the Telangana Assembly polls? The answer is a Yes and a No

No PKs’ can save TDP

YSRCP irrigation minister Ambati Rambabu was the first to react to the meeting, taking a dig at Nara Lokesh. In a post on X, he stated, “If the material is itself not good enough, what would the mason do?”

మెటీరియలే మంచిది కాకపోతే
మేస్త్రి ఏమి చేయగలడు ?@naralokesh pic.twitter.com/1QC3r6mWwX

— Ambati Rambabu (@AmbatiRambabu) December 23, 2023

During a press meet at the party office in Guntur, he elaborated that Chandrababu will go to any extent to come to power and lacks moral values.

Rambabu quoted, “When Prasanth Kishor worked for the YSRCP in 2019, he was called ‘BD’ – a Bihar dacoit and was even blamed for YS Vivekananda murder and the Vizag security mishap where YS Jagan was injured, all as part of a planned strategy.”

“Now they are seeking his help for tricks of success. Whether it’s Prasanth Kishor or Pawan Kalyan, both PKs’ cannot save the TDP but can only offer limited assistance to the declining party,” he added.

I-PAC clarifies

Meanwhile, I-PAC clarified that it would be working with the YSRCP, and Kishor had left the organisation in 2021.

“I-PAC has been working in collaboration with @YSRCParty since last year. Together, we’re dedicated to working tirelessly until @ysjagan secures a thumping victory again in 2024 and continues his unwavering efforts to better the lives of the people of Andhra Pradesh,” it said on X.

I-PAC has been working in collaboration with @YSRCParty since last year. Together, we're dedicated to working tirelessly until @ysjagan secures a thumping victory again in 2024 and continues his unwavering efforts to better the lives of the people of Andhra Pradesh.

— I-PAC (@IndianPAC) December 23, 2023