Jagan Reddy hires I-PAC for second successive term to help plan for 2024 polls
The I-PAC, which had set the narrative for the YSRC in 2019 elections and helped it gain a landslide victory by winning 151 seats in the 175-member state assembly and 22 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats, is going to work for the party again for the 2024 general elections.
Hyderabad: The ruling YSR Congress party in Andhra Pradesh headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has hired the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) set up by popular election strategist Prashant Kishore for the second successive term, a party leader privy to the development said.
The I-PAC, which had set the narrative for the YSRC in 2019 elections and helped it gain a landslide victory by winning 151 seats in the 175-member state assembly and 22 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats, is going to work for the party again for the 2024 general elections.
“Unlike in the past, Kishor will not directly associate with YSRCP in Andhra this time, as he is busy with his Jan Suraj mission in Bihar. However, a team of professionals from the I-PAC led by Kishor’s colleague, director and co-founder Rishi Raj Singh will be working for the YSRCP till the next elections,” the party leader said.
With this, I-PAC has been hired by the ruling parties of both the Telugu speaking states, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The I-PAC has already entered into an agreement with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi in neighbouring Telangana, headed by chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR), to work for his party in the next assembly elections in 2023.
In March this year, Kishor held a series of meetings with KCR, who later admitted at a press conference that the strategist would be working for the TRS and also for the party’s role in national politics. The chief minister’s son and TRS working president K T Rama Rao also confirmed that the party had inked an agreement with the I-PAC.
In Andhra Pradesh, the YSRC has decided to hire I-PAC for a second successive term, apparently to consolidate the party’s hold on the state in the wake of reports that opposition Telugu Desam Party is regaining ground gradually in many parts of the state.
The YSRC leader quoted above said Jagan will formally announce the news of hiring I-PAC at a meeting of party functionaries at the state party office to be held at Tadepalli in Guntur district on Wednesday. “He is expected to introduce Rishi Raj Singh to the party leaders at the meeting,” he said.
The chief minister has convened a meeting of all senior leaders, including ministers in charge of various districts, parliamentary and assembly constituency in-charges, district party president, regional coordinators and state party leaders to review the recently completed “Gadapa Gadapaku Prabhutvam” (government at every doorstep) programme.
The party leader said the agreement with I-PAC was signed for an undisclosed amount in May. The team has already started ground work for the party since May 15, gathering feedback from a cross section of people on the implementation of welfare schemes.
“The team members have also begun analysing various media reports about the functioning of the government, apart from various advantages and disadvantages of the party at the grassroot level,” the YSRCP leader said.