TDP brings Kishor on board ahead of Andhra polls

Telugu Desam Party led by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has roped in political strategist Prashant Kishor to help the party work out its strategy ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

The founder of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), along with TDP general secretary and Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh, landed in Vijayawada in a private jet from Hyderabad on Saturday afternoon and drove straight to the TDP chief’s residence at Vundavalli in Amaravati to hold talks.

A video of Kishor and Lokesh coming out of the airport and boarding a vehicle went viral on social media. A purported list of passengers of the aircraft from Begumpet airport in Hyderabad to Vijayawada also appeared on social media.

Along with Lokesh, his two close aides, M Srikanth and Rajesh Kilaru, besides Shantanu Singh, head of operations at ShowTime Consulting, now affiliated with the TDP, accompanied Kishor in the flight and then to Naidu’s residence. ShowTime Consulting chief Robbin Sharma, who has been working for Naidu, joined the talks, a TDP leader privy to the development said, declining to be named.

The TDP had been in talks with Kishor for the past three months to engage his services as an advisor to help the party devise new strategies to defeat the ruling YSR Congress Party and come to power in the assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh scheduled to be held in March 2024, the leader said.

“Lokesh, who had been in New Delhi for a few weeks in September after the arrest and imprisonment of his father in the alleged multi-crore skill development scam case, had held consultations with Kishor in this regard,” he said.

During the 2019 elections, Kishor, who was then heading the I-PAC, had played a role in bringing YSRCP led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to power with a huge majority. The party had won 151 out of 175 assembly seats.

Even after Reddy came to power, Kishor continued to be associated with the YSRCP government in the initial days, advising him on several policy issues. A team of I-PAC was engaged by the state government to oversee the functioning of the administration at the grassroots level.

Subsequently, Kishor disassociated himself with I-PAC and handed it over to his colleague Rishi Raj Singh, while confining himself to Bihar, where he has launched the Jan Suraj Yatra and has been undertaking foot marches. The I-PAC team led by Singh is working for the YSRC for the upcoming state elections.

Against this backdrop, the return of Kishor to Andhra Pradesh politics to help Naidu, against whom he worked in 2019, created political ripples. “It is a matter of surprise that the TDP, who had run down Kishor during the 2019 elections for trying to implement Bihar-type of politics in Andhra, is engaging the same man to help him in the present elections,” said political analyst and former Osmania University professor M Nageshwar.

Kishor’s entry into Andhra politics is a politically significant development at a time when the TDP-Jana Sena Party combine is emerging as a formidable force, Nageshwar added.

“Kishor would be of great help to the TDP in building up an image, designing the right campaign strategy and creating a narrative among the people on the need to pull down the Jagan Mohan Reddy government,” he said.

YSRCP reacted cautiously to the development. “What can a mestri (building contractor) do, when the material itself is not good?” commented YSRCP spokesman and state irrigation minister Ambati Rambabu on social media platform X, without elaborating further.