Amid speculation of Prashant Kishor joining the Congress, the I-PAC, which the political strategist was previously linked to, has officially signed a contract with K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi for the upcoming Assembly elections in 2023
With state elections a year away, the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has signed an official contract with political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), once led by election strategist Prashant Kishor.
TRS leader KT Rama Rao on Sunday confirmed the same, saying that his party had signed up with I-PAC, but clarified that it would only work with the firm and not with its erstwhile chief — Prashant Kishor.
“Prashant Kishor has introduced I-PAC to the TRS party and I-PAC is working for us officially. We are not working with Prashant Kishor but we are working with I-PAC,” KTR was quoted as saying by ANI.
The development is significant for Telangana politics, as Prashant Kishor, himself, is reportedly on the verge of joining Congress and has been in marathon talks with Sonia Gandhi.
Political pundits and observers of politics are wondering how will this pan out in Telangana where the Congress is the ruling party’s “main rival” for the 2023 Assembly elections.
I-PAC and Prashant Kishor
The political consultancy firm began its journey in 2013 as Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG). On its website, it describes itself as “a platform for students and young professionals to make their choice, participate and make meaningful contributions to political affairs and governance of the country, without being a part of a political party”.
Prashant Kishor, who then headed the company, in 2014 was credited for formulating an innovative marketing and advertising campaigning for Narendra Modi including the Chai pe Charcha discussions, 3D rallies, Run for Unity, Manthan, and social media programmes.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times said Kishor was one of the most important people in Modi’s team driving strategies for months before 2014 general elections.
Kishor parted ways with Modi and in 2015, the CAG transformed itself into the I-PAC and helped Nitish Kumar to win his third term as chief minister in Bihar.
Following this, I-PAC helped several parties in their political campaigns, including the Congress in the 2017 Punjab elections, the YSR-Congress for Andhra Pradesh the same year.
The Prashant Kishor-led group was also credited for the Aam Aadmi Party’s win in the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections.
In 2021, the political consultancy group tied up with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu, helping both leaders to win in their respective states.
Following the wins, Prashant Kishor had announced during a live interview with NDTV that he wished to “quit the space”. “I do not want to continue what I am doing. I have done enough. Time for me to take a break and do something else in life. I want to quit this space.”
As of today, the I-PAC is headed by three directors — Rishi Raj Singh, Pratik Jain and Vinesh Chandel –and Prashant Kishor doesn’t find a mention on the site.
Kishor’s Congress move
Over the past few days, there’s been a buzz that Prashant Kishor is likely to join the Congress as advisor.
The Print reported that in a meeting that lasted over three hours on 16 April, Kishor had given a detailed presentation on the road ahead for the Congress.
The Print also reported that Kishor is likely to take charge of the party’s strategy for upcoming elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and then look at the larger picture of the 2024 general elections.
However, some Congress leaders have reportedly informed the party’s top command of their wariness against Kishor, while some have even spoken to the media about it.
The leaders reportedly are wary of any association with Kishor owing to his advisory role to parties, who are directly rivalling the Congress. For instance, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress
On 22 April, Digvijay Singh had told NDTV that there were doubts within the Congress on bringing Prashant Kishor into the party, but they had an open mind.
“He is a statistics man. There is nothing very new, nothing that we did not know. There is no resistance to having him in the party, people are receptive. But the only thing is to what extent and how and what,” the veteran Congress leader told NDTV.
Singh added, “I haven’t had a very close association with him. Neither did I have intense interactions with him as such. He is a political analyst. And he has suggested a roadmap. But then his journey has been from one party to the other. So that kind of political commitment or the ideological commitment was not obvious. But now that he has come forward with some concrete suggestions and the presentation that he has put up – yes, is quite good.”
The Telangana conundrum
The first hurdle for Kishor’s reported tie-up with the Congress comes up in Telangana. As TRS has tied up with I-PAC, one can’t push away that Kishor has been close to KCR and the TRS.
In fact, Prashant Kishor was in Hyderabad on Sunday and held discussions with KCR the whole day and had a sleepover at Pragati Bhavan. Earlier too, KCR has claimed Kishor as his “best friend” and admitted to talks with the political strategist “to bring a national change”.
“Prashant Kishor is my best friend for the last 7-8 years. He has never worked for money. He is not a paid worker,” the Telangana chief minister had said as per an NDTV report.
This is where the Congress has been left with doubts. AICC-in-charge of the state, Manickam Tagore put out a cryptic tweet on the matter.
The TRS and the Congress have been rivals in Telangana, and the Congress has ruled out any alliance with the former for the upcoming 2023 Assembly elections.
In the previous polls of 2018, KCR had come out on top, winning 88 seats. The Congress, on the other hand, became the lead opposition party after securing 19 seats in the elections.
With inputs from agencies
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