AP: Naidu-PK meeting heats up political matters

Prashant Kishor, who was instrumental in featuring the BJP upsurge that allowed the Trinamool Congress to retain power in West Bengal, said goodbye to his position as election strategist in 2021. However, his meeting with TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu at his Undavalli residence has heightened political tensions in Andhra Pradesh.

The encounter fueled rumors that he would be returning to election management in order to guarantee the return of the Yellow Brigade and its coalition partner, the politician-turned-star of Tollywood, Pawan Kalyan, in the AP.

However, a source in TDP denied this possibility. On a trip from Hyderabad to Undavalli, Prashant Kishor was assisted by TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh, who happens to be Naidu's son.

The Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), Prashant's brainchild, is currently spreading propaganda for the governing YSRCP. He had been instrumental in the YSRCP's electoral strategy's finalization, which ultimately resulted in the party winning 151 Assembly seats in 2019.

A different source in TDP told Bizz Buzz that the meeting between the TDP supremo and Prashant focused on how, the ‘arrogant and vindictive’ behavior of YSRCP leaders shortly after rising to power, unemployment and the filing of multiple lawsuits in a short period against Naidu, and his sensational arrest on September 9 and the ensuing chaos over capital problems, could be turned into an anti-incumbency swing in the 2024 elections.

Regarding Prashant's comeback to election management following his entry into active politics via a public appeal campaign in Bihar, there is no official announcement yet. After serving as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's political assistant for a short while, he even had discussions with the Congress's upper leadership about taking on a major role in overseeing the party's electoral strategy.

Ambati Rambabu, the leader of the YSRCP and Minister of Water Resources, responded to the meeting between Naidu and Prashant by saying that the two "PKs," as Prashant Kishor and Pawan Kalyan are affectionately called by their supporters, would not prevent the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led party from being reelected for a second term with an overwhelming majority. He cited Prashant Kishor's 2019 description by Naidu as a "Bihar Dacoit." Showtime Consulting now manages the TDP campaign, and since Shantanu Singh, the director of the company, attended the meeting, there has been supposition that Prashant would provide advice to Showtime Consulting rather than taking a full-time position.

Kishore was a co-founder of I-PAC, where Shantanu Singh had a directorship. Robin Singh, the leader of Showtime, is organising the TDP's publicity offensive against the YSRCP Government amid Naidu's detention and Lokesh's Yuva Galam yatra. Additionally, it is assisting in the TDP and Jana Sena Party's joint manifesto's completion.