YSRCP hires I-PAC again for Andhra elections in 2024
The I-PAC has already agreed with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi in neighbouring Telangana, headed by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao , for the next assembly elections in 2023.
The ruling YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh has hired the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), founded by election strategist Prashant Kishor, for the second successive term ahead of the 2024 assembly elections, a party leader privy to the development said on Tuesday.
The I-PAC, which set the narrative for the YSRC in the 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, the party leader added.
“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 would be working for the YSRCP till the next elections,” the party leader said.
The I-PAC has already agreed with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in neighbouring Telangana, headed by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), for 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 for the elections and 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 has an agreement with the I-PAC.
In Andhra Pradesh, the YSRC has decided to hire I-PAC for a second successive term to consolidate the party’s hold on the state in the wake of reports that the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is regaining its ground gradually in many parts of the state. The development also comes days after the Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party offered to ally with the TDP for the 2024 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, provided Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is part of the alliance.
The YSRC leader quoted above said chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy would formally announce the decision at a meeting of the party functionaries at the state party office in Tadepalli of 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 in-charge ministers 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 the groundwork for the party since May 15, gathering feedback from a cross-section of people on the implementation of welfare schemes, he added.
“The team members have also begun analysing the various media reports about the functioning of the government, apart from various plusses and minuses of the party at the grassroots level,” the YSRCP leader said.
Singh, who hails from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. After working asan investment banker for a couple of years, he, with Prashant Kishor, founded Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) in 2013, which later transformed into the I-PAC.
“It was Singh who had spearheaded the campaign for YSRCP before the 2019 elections and helped it win the elections with a huge mandate,” the leader added.
