New Delhi
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Saturday, said that I-PAC, a political consultancy firm led by Prashant Kishor, has joined hands with the AAP, which is gearing up for assembly elections in Delhi that are likely to be slated in early 2020.
“Happy to share that I-PAC is coming on-board with us. Welcome aboard,” said Kejriwal.
The Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) was one of the main strategists in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s general election campaign in 2014, and the Bihar assembly election campaign in 2015 which brought Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar to power. Kishor is currently the national vice-president of the Janata Dal (United), which is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP is the main opposition party in the Delhi Assembly.
Kishor has also been key elections strategists for Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh and Congress’ Captain Amarinder Singh in Punjab, where the AAP is the main opposition party.
Responding to Kejriwal’s announcement, I-PAC tweeted, “After Punjab results, we acknowledged you as the toughest opponent we have ever faced. Happy to join forces now with Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party.”
{{/usCountry}}Responding to Kejriwal’s announcement, I-PAC tweeted, “After Punjab results, we acknowledged you as the toughest opponent we have ever faced. Happy to join forces now with Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party.”
{{/usCountry}}However, the AAP’s national spokesperson Raghav Chadha said that the party has no “commercial arrangement” with Kishor. “The assistance and consultancy in this regard is pro bono in nature. There is no commercial arrangement between I-PAC and the AAP. In the party (AAP), from a spokesperson to an MP, everyone operates as a volunteer.”
In 2014, when the BJP had won all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, the AAP stood second in terms of vote share. The next year, it won the assembly elections in Delhi with a whooping majority of 67 out of 70 seats. However, in 2019 general elections, when the BJP once again won all seven seats in Delhi, but the AAP lost its second rank in terms of vote share to the Congress.
Less than a month after the 2019 Lok Sabha election results, the AAP had started to analyse poll campaigns – both in India and abroad. The focus of the party was on demography-based pitching and optimum social media penetration. Among the many campaigns the AAP was analysing keenly, at least three were such in which Kishor had major role, a senior party functionary said.
“There, however, was no formal discussion ever in tying up with I-PAC,” said the functionary who is a member of the party’s poll campaign strategy team.
(Kishor did not respond to phone calls and text messages)