Amid speculation about Prashant Kishor helping the Congress in the 2024 general elections, the election strategist held talks with the ruling TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in Hyderabad over two days. Meanwhile, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) on Sunday confirmed that it has signed a deal with Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) founded by Kishor.
During an interaction with journalists, TRS Working President KT Rama Rao confirmed on Sunday that the TRS is working with I-PAC, but claimed that this has nothing to do with Kishor. "PK (as Kishor is popularly known) is the founder but I don't know who is running it. PK introduced us to I-PAC and it is working with us," he said.
He said Kishor has disassociated himself from I-PAC which is working with multiple parties across the country. "It's not just PK we had interactions with. We had multiple iterations of discussions with several others. We spoke to Sunil and others. I-PAC is what we narrowed down to,” he said.
The TRS leader, however, was evasive on whether the agreement is only for 2023 Assembly polls or 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well as the nature of discussions they are holding with Kishor. "If a gentleman who is into politics, who is into advisory or helpful roles in other places, offers you some inputs, would you not take them?" he asked.
KTR did not agree that there will be a conflict of interest as Kishor is planning to join the Congress. "Has he joined Congress? Isn't it hypothetical, right now. I don't know whether he is joining or not," said KTR, who is the son of KCR.
He dismissed the possibility of the TRS approaching Congress. "Why will we approach Congress. Where is Congress? Rahul Gandhi can't win his own seat, how will he make others win. Someone who can't win his own constituency or state, how will he win other states and the country," he asked.
KTR, however, said the TRS will win elections on its own and I-PAC will just supplement it. "If we don't have public support, they can't save us. They will just supplement. PK or some outsider can't save a sinking ship. If you are on the right path, your efforts can be augmented, majorities can improve, number of seats can improve and certain sections of the population can be connected which otherwise would not have connected."
"All these strategists can only augment or complement your efforts. To overstress or overemphasise that I-PAC or political strategist will win you an election or PK or somebody made Mamata Ji (Mamata Banerjee) or Stalin Ji (MK Stalin) Chief Minister is an exaggeration," he added.
The TRS leader said that if his party has to come back stronger in 2023, it will have to do it on its own strengths and merits. "Anybody else is only going to augment. You are overemphasising or overstressing on extraneous factors. I-PAC is an extraneous institution which will only give inputs."
He explained that I-PAC will help reach people in the age group of 18-30 as the party needs different mediums and different forms of communication. He pointed out that digital media has become an important platform and the TRS doesn't want to miss out on it. KTR was evasive to questions about the possibility of TRS working with Congress for evolving a national alternative.
Kishor's discussions with KCR which began on April 23, Saturday, continued on Sunday as well. While the contemporary political situation in the country was discussed in the recent talks with KCR, Kishor is understood to have submitted the details of the surveys done by his team in Telangana. Kishor's meeting with KCR assumes significance in view of the speculation over the political strategist joining the Congress. KCR had said in March that Kishor is working with him on bringing a 'parivartan' (change) in the entire country. Both were working together in Telangana too.
KCR had described Kishor as his best friend for the last seven-eight years and praised the latter for his commitment to a cause. KCR has been working to bring together various non-BJP parties together against the saffron party's alleged anti-people policies and to usher in a "qualitative change" in the country.
Describing Kishor as a brand with proven credentials, Congress General Secretary Tariq Anwar on Thursday last said the poll strategist is willing to join the party without any preconditions and his induction would certainly help the party. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Anwar had said, wants to take senior leaders into confidence and seek their opinion on whether Kishor's entry into the party will be beneficial or not and then take a decision on the much-speculated matter.
Kishor, who has planned the electoral strategies of various parties, including the Trinamool Congress, AAP and DMK, wants to come into the Congress and help it, Anwar had said.
With PTI and IANS inputs