Taking potshots at the DMK leadership, Tamil Nadu Fisheries minister D Jayakumar alleged that the real leader of DMK is political strategist Prashant Kishor and not party president MK Stalin. While speaking on stage at a public program on Sunday, Jayakumar accused the I-PAC founder of being the real power in the Dravidian party. I-PAC or Indian Political Action Committee founded by Prashant Kishor manages elections for parties and are in-charge of research, strategy and campaign. In recent years, most political parties have been hiring teams like the I-PAC to manage their campaign. Prashant Kishor who has run campaigns for BJP, YSRCP and JDU is making a foray into Tamil Nadu by managing the DMK campaign for 2021.
The AIADMK too has hired political strategists this time around. The DMK hit back at the ruling AIADMK accusing them of double speak. Speaking to TNM, DMK spokesperson A Saravanan said that if the same logic is applied to the AIADMK, then political strategist Sunil Kanugolu should be called the AIADMK president. He was referring to Sunil Kanugolu who was roped in by CM Edappadi Palanisamy for policy and campaign consultation in June 2020.
“It is a figment of their imagination. They have been waiting for an opportunity to attack DMK to deflect attention from failures and betrayals to the state of Tamil Nadu. If this is the case, then their ally BJP’s party president should also be Prashant Kishor. Let Mr Jayakumar clarify who Sunil is. He has been stolen from DMK.”
Sunil Kanugolu who has also worked on PM Modi’s 2014 campaign along with Prashant Kishor, worked with DMK since 2015. In the past, he was also a lead member for BJP war room for Assembly elections-BJP's Association of Billion Minds. He was brought in as a consultant in 2015 and he was the brains behind Stalin's Namakku Naame (We for us) roadshow which saw the DMK leader wear colorful modern attire and traverse the state. Sunil who was close to both Stalin and his son-in-law Sabareesh left the campaign in 2020 and was roped in by rival AIADMK in June of 2020.
Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC was hired by DMK in February 2020 after his company successfully managed campaigns for BJP, Congress, YSRCP and AAP in other parts of the country. As DMK geared to face Assembly elections for the first time since the death of former Tamil Nadu CM and DMK president, M Karunanidhi, I-PAC coming on board attracted flak from rival parties.