Showtime Consultancy led by Robbin Sharrma scripted success stories for TDP in Andhra Pradesh and Shinde's Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
Published Jan 08, 2025 | 12:14 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 08, 2025 | 12:14 PM
Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin.
If you don’t mind the pun, one could say it is “showtime” for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections 2026. The MK Stalin-led party has roped in Showtime Consultancy to help the party in the elections.
This development needs to be read with the fact that DMK has its own in-house research and campaign management firm Populus Empowerment Network (PEN).
Led by MK Stalin’s son-in-law Sabarisan Vedamurthy, PEN is to DMK what the Association of Brilliant Minds (ABM) is to the BJP — the party’s very own professional, reliable election management and governance review mechanism.
Yet, the party has decided to rope in Showtime Consultancy (STC) as reinforcement given the Robbin Sharrma-led team’s success in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
STC worked with the TDP in Andhra Pradesh and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, helping both parties achieve grand electoral success. Incidentally, STC had initially pitched for AIADMK — the primary Opposition party in Tamil Nadu.
Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), now led by Rishi Raj Singh and managed YSRCP’s elections unsuccessfully, too had pitched to both AIADMK and DMK in Tamil Nadu.
However, according to party insiders, STC has been selected to work with the DMK. STC will work in tandem with PEN in the run-up to the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections and is expected to reproduce the results it had with TDP and Shiv Sena.
Familiarity is a boon for PEN staff and STC since Robbin Sharrma previously worked with I-PAC. Ace political strategist Prashant Kishor with his I-PAC team strategised for the DMK in the 2021 Assembly elections. Eventually, several I-PAC members were hired by DMK when it started its own in-house firm PEN.
With STC on board with DMK, former colleagues will once again work in a single team.
DMK onboarding another consultancy firm despite having PEN goes on to show that one cannot really be too sure in politics, especially if anti-incumbency is building up.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
