Top electoral strategist and founder of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) Prashant Kishor on Saturday, December 23 reportedly met Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N Chandrababu Naidu at Amaravati. The meeting has come amid speculation that he might help the party in the upcoming Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections.
PK, as the political strategist is popularly known, arrived at Gannavaram Airport, Vijayawada along with TDP General Secretary Nara Lokesh on the same flight from Hyderabad. The duo later drove to Naidu’s residence at Undavalli in Amaravati where Prashant Kishor reportedly held talks with Naidu.
In 2019, PK worked with the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), led by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, which wrested power from TDP with a landslide majority. YSRCP had bagged 151 seats in the 175-member Assembly and also won 22 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats.
Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh are due to be held along with the Lok Sabha polls in April-May next year. There have been speculations for the last few months that PK will help devise a strategy for TDP this time. The I-PAC founder was reportedly persuaded by Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to help Chandrababu Naidu. The talks reportedly started in June 2021, after TMC’s massive win in the West Bengal Assembly elections.
Naidu’s meeting with PK came a couple of days after the massive public meeting in Vizianagaram district, where Naidu shared the dais with Janasena Party (JSP) leader and actor Pawan Kalyan. TDP and JSP have announced that they will contest in an alliance in the coming elections. Pawan Kalyan, who is part of the BJP-led NDA, is still hopeful that BJP will also join the alliance to take on YSRCP.
(With IANS inputs)