Three days after the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections concluded, on May 16, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy visited the I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee) office in Vijayawada. Showering praise on the team that worked on the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP)’s election campaign this time, Jagan told I-PAC co-founder and director Rishi Raj Singh that it is not ‘Prashant’s team’ that matters but his present team. Jagan was referring to I-PAC founder and political strategist Prashant Kishor. 

Exactly five years ago, in May 2019, Jagan was monitoring the previous election’s results along with Prashant Kishor, who was then heading I-PAC, from the YSRCP office in Tadepalle near Amaravati. Prashant Kishor had worked closely with Jagan on his campaign for the previous Assembly election, which led to a tremendous win. Jagan became the CM for the first time, ousting Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu. The main plank of his campaign was the Navaratnalu, mainly comprising welfare schemes such as Amma Vodi, pensions, and others. 

Just before the 2019 polls – back when Naidu was CM and Prashant Kishor was working with Jagan – Naidu had accused Prashant Kishor of advising Jagan to apply for the deletion of lakhs of TDP voters. Naidu had asked if Prashant Kishor and Jagan thought Andhra Pradesh was Bihar for them to try to do such things. Bihar is Prashant Kishor’s native state, where he also floated the Jan Suraaj party, and has since dissociated himself from I-PAC. 

But a few months ago, in December 2023, Prashant Kishor met Naidu in Amaravati. The meeting made waves, and since then, Prashant Kishor is said to be advising Jagan’s opponent, Naidu. TDP is also working with ShowTime Consulting, founded by Robbin Sharrma, who was also once one of the co-founders of I-PAC.

More recently, Prashant Kishor made news again, when he dismissed the welfare-based governance that Jagan had implemented – the plank on which he had helped Jagan win the previous election. Speaking at an event hosted by The New Indian Express in March, Prashant Kishor blamed Jagan for solely relying on “freebies” to win the elections again. “As the head of a state, you cannot put all the eggs in one basket called ‘freebies’. Jagan has made a mistake. And I think he would find it very difficult to make a comeback,” he said. 

Prashant Kishor also said, “I see that this whole assumption that Jagan is too strong to be defeated has no legs. He is on a sticky wicket. He is going downhill ... I have no data or first-hand experience [of the political situation in AP], but my gut tells me he is losing big. Not just losing … but losing big.” The YSRCP’s official social media accounts, as well as several senior leaders such as YSRCP parliamentary party leader and Jagan’s close aide V Vijayasai Reddy, and Industries Minister Gudivada Amarnath, slammed Prashant Kishor at the time, arguing that the poll strategist’s ‘gut feelings’ have been wrong in the past. 

Now, interacting with the new I-PAC team devoid of Prashant Kishor, who is working for his rival Naidu, Jagan alluded to conflicts within the I-PAC and ShowTime teams and said, “There was a lot of conflict, you might know. I think all of you are aware of it,” to which the I-PAC team responded with loud laughter. 

Alluding to their “earlier mentor” Prashant Kishor’s dismissive remarks about YSRCP’s prospects this election, Jagan said, “A lot of people do not understand the difference between this team and what Prashant was doing. So when this dichotomy came up, I just wanted to tell Rishi one thing. Rishi, it is not Prashant that matters. It is this team that matters,” addressing I-PAC’s present director Rishi Raj Singh

“Probably on June 4, when results are out, I promise that this research would ensure that the whole country would stand up and look towards Andhra Pradesh,”Jagan said. 

Expressing confidence, Jagan said, “When someone told me that last time’s 151 out of 175 itself was a tall number, I told them that we are going to beat that record this time. We will surpass 151, we will surpass 22 (in the Lok Sabha)… We’ve delivered good governance ... And while I could do all that, nevertheless, one and half years of [I-PAC’s] effort, trying to streamline and bring in more efficiency into the system we’re already in, helped us achieve this target.” 

“The numbers would be far greater than what Prashant could have ever dreamt of,” Jagan added. 

Recently, on May 13, the YSRCP filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India seeking criminal action against Prashant Kishor and RTV journalist Ravi Prakash, for telecasting opinion polls on the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Parliamentary elections a day before the state went to the polls. During the silent period, that is, the 48 hours before the polling, election-related content is not allowed to be published or aired.