Just like YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy hired the Indian Political Action Committee belonging to political strategist Prashant Kishor to work out ways to bring the party to power for a second term in the state, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, too, has engaged a separate agency to plan the strategies for his party.
While the I-PAC has been conducting periodical surveys on the prospects of the YSRC and the performance of the sitting MLAs, the agency engaged by the TDP – Showtime Consulting – has also reportedly done survey for the party to analyse its prospects in the next elections.
According to reports in a section of media, the agency hired by Naidu is understood to have predicted a marginal victory for the TDP, if elections are held now and the party has to put in more hard work in the next two years to sustain this trend, if not winning more seats.
The reports said the strategist has given a report to Naidu stating that the TDP might end up winning around 100 seats in the 175-member assembly in the next elections.
While the TDP can win all the 23 seats it had won in 2019, it has bright chances of winning another 75 seats, going by the anti-incumbency climate building up in these constituencies.
Having said this, the strategist has reportedly warned the TDP against being complacent even in the 75 seats, as they cannot be taken for granted. In the next two years, anything might happen if the ruling party mobilises all its resources.
In at least another 20-25 seats, there would be a very tough fight with the YSR Congress party and the TDP has to go all out to win at least half of them. In the remaining seats, the YSRC would have it easy to win.
The strategist, however, suggested that the winning prospects of the TDP would increase, if it has an alliance with the Jana Sena Party and the BJP.
“But if there is a triangular fight, the ultimate loser will be the TDP,” reports said.
The TDP chief, sources said, would not go only by the report of the strategist. He has his own assessment of the ground situation and that is why, he has been asking the party leaders not to depend too much on anti-incumbency talk, but work out the plans depending on the ground realities.
