Telangana’s KCR Signs Up Prashant Kishor Ahead Of State Polls: Sources

Election strategist Prashant Kishor reportedly met Ok Chandrasekhar Rao at his farm home outdoors Hyderabad over the weekend, setting off hypothesis amid the Telangana Chief Minister’s efforts to cobble a entrance towards the BJP forward of the 2024 basic elections.

Telangana is heading for meeting polls in December subsequent yr, wherein Mr Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi is hoping for a 3rd straight time period in energy.

Sources mentioned Prashant Kishor’s political consultancy workforce IPAC is working for KCR and a proper contract has additionally been signed, although its particulars aren’t recognized but.

Mr Kishor is credited with efficiently dealing with the marketing campaign of MK Stalin-led DMK in Tamil Nadu and YS Jaganmohan Reddy in Karnataka.

The IPAC chief, whose ties with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has been topic of intense hypothesis, additionally met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar not too long ago for lunch. Although Mr Kishor dismissed it as an off-the-cuff assembly, studies of his strained ties with Ms Banerjee and Mr Kumar’s previous efforts to maintain ally BJP in test within the state, have added additional dimensions to the problem.

The IPAC — which has been dealing with Ms Banerjee’s efforts to develop and purchase a pan-India enchantment — has been caught within the crossfire between her and her more and more formidable nephew Abhishek Banerjee. Sources near I-PAC, nonetheless, dismissed studies of rift with the Chief Minister.

Ms Banerjee can be one of many regional leaders Mr Rao has been cultivating for his anti-BJP entrance, together with Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress chief Sharad Pawar and Janata Dal Secular patriarch HD Deve Gowda.

Standard actor Prakash Raj — recognized for his sturdy anti-BJP views — was additionally current throughout Mr Kishor’s go to to the TRS authorities’s flagship Kaleswaram mission throughout his keep in Telangana.

Prakash Raj’s presence got here as a shock throughout Mr Rao’s latest go to to Mumbai, when he met his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. It set off hypothesis that TRS will nominate Prakash Raj to the Rajya Sabha to successfully pitch its views on the nationwide degree.

Sources near Mr Raj have confirmed that he will likely be taking part in a political function and a proper announcement is anticipated quickly.

Mr Raj had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha from Bengaluru as an Impartial.