Popular political strategist Prashant Kishor’s statement that YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is going to lose big in the ensuing assembly elections triggered uproar in the state politics.
Participating in a dialogue initiated by The New Indian Express in Hyderabad on Sunday, Prashant said even with all the usual caveats about calling an election, the 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 is telling me that he is losing big. Not just losing… but losing big.”
“If you are not talking about capital creation and new infrastructure but only focusing on the distribution side in a middle-income state, you are taking a big strategic risk. His government has given more priority to giving doles and Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) even at the cost of incurring a lot of additional debt,” he said.
What one could understand from Prashant Kishor’s words, it is very clear that he was speaking in the same language as that of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu. This has led to an impression that he might have made the statement only to benefit Naidu and to run down Jagan.
Prashant himself had admitted that he had met Naidu a few months back in Vijayawada but reiterated that he was in no way associated with the party. But there were reports that there is an unofficial understanding between the two.
The YSRCP did not lose much time to counter Prashant Kishor statement. Party general secretary V Vijay Sai Reddy said: “Do not rely on @PrashantKishor's ‘gut’ who is speaking without logical data after meeting @ncbn for 4 hours.”
Sai Reddy went on to say: “His ‘gut’ has also no relevance in present-day contemporary politics. AP Govt.’s welfare schemes were a savior of crores of people during COVID and provided a wide safety net to our people.”
The I-PAC, which was founded by Prashant Kishor and is presently working for YSRCP, also shot back at him.
It said: “@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,” the I-PAC team said.
It went on to question: “Besides his ‘gut’ (which has proven to be very wrong in recent times), what is he basing these random, inaccurate predictions on?”
