Prashant Kishor to TDP’s aid, meets Chandrababu Naidu

Amaravati, Dec 23: Top electoral strategist and founder of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) Prashant Kishor arrived here on Saturday and met Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu amid reports that he will be helping the party for the coming elections for Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

PK, as the political strategist is popularly known, arrived at Gannavaram Airport, Vijayawada along with TDP General Secretary Nara Lokesh in the same flight from Hyderabad.

The duo later drove to Naidu’s residence at Undavalli in Amaravati where Prashant Kishor held talks with Naidu.

In 2019, PK worked with YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). The party led by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had wrested power from TDP with a landslide majority.

YSRCP had bagged 151 seats in the 175-member Assembly and also won 22 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats.

Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh are due to be held along with the Lok Sabha polls in April-May next year.

There have been speculations for the last few months that PK will help devise a strategy for TDP this time.

The I-PAC founder was reportedly persuaded by Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to help Chandrababu Naidu.

The talks reportedly started in June 2021, after TMC’s massive win in the West Bengal Assembly elections.

Naidu’s meeting with PK comes a couple of days after the massive public meeting in Vizianagaram district, where he shared dais with Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader and actor Pawan Kalyan.

TDP and JSP have announced that they will have an alliance for the coming elections.

Pawan Kalyan, who is part of the BJP-led NDA, is still hopeful that BJP will also join the alliance to take on YSRCP.