Political strategist Prashant Kishor, who was instrumental in the victory of the YSRCP in the 2019 Andhra Pradesh elections, has predicted that YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will “lose big” in the upcoming state Assembly elections. Kishor, the founder of the political consultancy I-PAC, made these observations while speaking at the ‘Dialogues’ event hosted by The New Indian Express on Sunday, March 3.
Speaking about whether YS Jagan would return to power, Kishor said, “I see 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.”
Reacting to his statement, YSRCP’s official account claimed that Kishor’s predictions were “inaccurate.”
“PrashantKishor's ‘gut’ and his predictions have been irrational and have missed the mark in the recent past. His predictions that BRS would win in Telangana and Congress in Rajasthan in the recent assembly elections have been infamously inaccurate! Let’s also not forget his failed attempt at direct politics in Bihar. Besides his ‘gut’ (which has proven to be very wrong in recent times), what is he basing these random, inaccurate predictions on?” the party posted on X.
At the event, Kishor blamed CM Jagan Mohan Reddy 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.
In 2019, Jagan’s YSRCP, with the help of I-PAC, won the Assembly elections with a landslide victory, winning 151 out of the 175 seats.
Criticising Prashant Kishor’s political analysis, YSRCP parliamentary party leader V Vijayasai Reddy said the political consultant was speaking without logical data. “Do not rely on Prashant Kishor’s ‘gut’ who is speaking without logical data after meeting Chandrababu Naidu for four hours,” the Rajya Sabha member posted on X.
“His ‘gut’ also has no relevance in present-day contemporary politics. AP government’s welfare schemes were a saviour of crores of people during COVID and provided a wide safety net to our people,” said Vijayasai Reddy.
AP Industries Minister Gudivada Amarnath wondered if one should believe the gut feeling of 5 crore people of the state or the gut feeling of a politician from Bihar. “Prashant Kishor worked as a political strategist in the past. He is now running a political party in Bihar,” he said.
Earlier, Prashant Kishor launched a 3,000 km padayatra in Bihar against the Nitish Kumar government. He has been trying to form his own political party.
“The gut feeling of the poor in Andhra Pradesh is that Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan and those who are going to support them will suffer humiliating defeat,” Amarnath said.
The Minister claimed that the poor who benefited from Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of over 2.50 lakh crore during the last five years are backing Jagan Mohan Reddy.
“If YSRCP is going to lose despite implementing many welfare schemes, why did Prashant Kishor design ‘super six’ schemes for TDP, which will require Rs 1.20 lakh crore every year,” he asked.
Prashant Kishor recently met TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu in Vijayawada. Their meeting lasted for nearly three hours.
With IANS inputs