Are the humdinger of a political strategist Prashant Kishor and the company he founded, Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), two different entities? Can they work at cross-purposes? Working President of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) K Taraka Rama Rao (KTR) replies in the affirmative with an emphatic “yes” and shoots back asking “why not?”
Is Prashant Kishor (aka PK) or, in other words, his I-PAC a long-term strategist? Or, is it like an OTP (one-time-password) that works only once to complete a transaction? For neither I-PAC nor Kishor have ever worked for any victorious political party to run for a second consecutive term in the same geographical area.
Kishor had worked with the BJP once for a state, that is, Gujarat in 2012 and once for the center in 2014, and indited its saga of a resounding victory. That the BJP developed an improvised model on its own to ride its juggernaut, ever since, is a different story.
Even if Kishor or I-PAC is just an OTP, TRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) is trying to make the best use of the OTP for his third term to successfully complete the transaction, that is, the election. Larger interests in the national arena could, however, be part of his political shenanigans. However, they take primacy appropriately only after the denouement of the Lok Sabha polls swinging one way or the other.
Also Read: Will Prashant Kishor Do Any Good to the Congress?
The TRS never engaged a strategist like Prashant Kishor, but won two consecutive elections in 2014 and 2018. If victory is the yardstick for political strategy, one must acknowledge the observation of KTR that there is no ‘master strategist’ than his dad and TRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), who has been the Chief Minister of Telangana, ever since the state of Telangana was formed.
In signing an agreement officially with I-PAC to engage the latter as a political consulting firm, the TRS has, for the first, time hired an agency to participate in the election strategy for the party. Confirming that the TRS signed a deal with I-PAC, KTR says, “PK has an arm’s length distance with I-PAC.”
By underplaying the role of strategists, KTR has asserted that any strategist can only augment the existing strengths of the party, but essentially cannot reverse the fortunes. “If we are not inherently strong and if we don’t enjoy popular support and remain indolent for years, no political strategist can catapult us from ‘nowhere to the pole position’. They cannot alter the outcome in a diametrically opposite direction,” points out KTR.
Also Read: The Prashant Kishors of the World May Come and Go But Congress is Doomed by Design
KTR perches his dad on a very high political pedestal emphatically stating that there was no better master strategist than KCR, who proved himself as a “reformer, transformer and performer”.
The TRS is, in fact, looking for a ‘robust six-pack’ victory, hence the engagement with I-PAC. The party considered many a political consultant. One of them was Mr Sunil Kanugolu, who had earlier worked with I-PAC. Now his firm, Mindshare, signed up with the Congress nationally and also in Telangana. Interestingly, Sunil’s Mindshare is the official consulting firm for the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh and the TDP’s erstwhile poster boy A Revanth Reddy is the president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC).
Prashant Kishor, on his part, is in hectic parleys with the Congress and he reportedly presented a detailed plan of action to the Congress top-brass which was more or less approved of by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Even senior Congress leaders openly acknowledged the workability of the ideas put across by Prashant Kishor.
While KTR has asserted that I-PAC is a professional agency and it would bolster the prospects of the party by a minuscule percentage, he also has pointed out that the TRS has nothing to do with the personal preferences of Prashant Kishor to nurse political ambitions and dabble with any other political party.
In fact, PK has done two rounds of surveys in 30 Assembly constituencies in the first round and 89 in the second round and submitted a DPR (detailed project report) precisely delineating between the possible winners and potential losers and highlighting the main points confronting the TRS. He is said to have suggested to the TRS supremo as to which MLAs should be replaced.
Prashant Kishor’s parleys with KCR, KTR
Ironically, Kishor, who is dabbling with Congress, held hectic parleys with KCR and KTR on Saturday and Sunday. Significantly, he stayed put as a ‘guest’ at Pragathi Bhavan complex, the official residence of the Chief Minister KCR. The pertinent question that is wracking the brains of the analysts and politicos within the Congress and the TRS is how could PK run with the proverbial hare and hunt with the hound.
If PK joins the Congress, which is almost certain now, save some differences of opinion among the party seniors, how can his company work for the TRS? Telangana PCC chief Revanth Reddy began to slowly sharpen the saw by indicating that PK, as a Congressman, would appeal to the voting populace of Telangana to ensure the defeat of the TRS. Paradoxically, his I-PAC would offer professional services to the TRS.
However, other Congress leaders, including the party in charge of Telangana Manickam Tagore, is skeptical about PK’s role and there are objections to his entry into the party.
Even if the state goes to polls in October 2023 or a few months earlier and TRS would lock horns with the BJP and the Congress and in a tri-cornered contest, the TRS would surely enjoy an edge. For, the South Indian states traditionally need a popular face to lead a party and the electors obliquely choose a Chief Minister based on face value. Neither Congress nor the BJP has anyone to project as their Chief Ministerial mascot in Telangana. For now, they only have rabble-rousers spearheading the party.
And, even if PK joins the Congress, he would offer his IP (intellectual property) to it only during the Lok Sabha elections. Politics is always too volatile and dynamic and changes shape and form by the minute. So, who will be on which side in 2024 is just a conjecture.
The author is an independent journalist. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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