B Krishna Prasad
The latest statements from poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor have raised many questions in political circles in Andhra Pradesh. For those newcomers, PK, alias Prashant Kishor, made some sensational comments during a national television channel talk, announcing that YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will not come back to power and described him as a ‘provider’ rather than a ‘leader’. This is not the first time we’ve seen PK making dramatic comments against Jagan. Ever since he first met TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu some months ago, PK, who once served as a poll strategist to Jagan, has changed his tune and left no stone unturned to criticise YSRCP and YS Jagan. Remember, PK did not conduct any survey or opinion poll, and he does not have a full-fledged team to conduct a comprehensive survey to identify the pulse of the voters in Andhra Pradesh. He admitted that he has not toured the State extensively and has no authentic information about the ground reality! His once-famous I-PAC team has been divided into different units, all working for different people in many states. As of now, there is no team belonging to Kishor working in Andhra Pradesh. So, whatever PK is saying on the news channels and with the national media is not based on a scientific survey but rather on hearsay, most probably from his ‘new friends’.
Though there are many successes to the credit of Prashant Kishor in his long psephologist career, there are an equal number of misses as well. Let us go back to previous instances where PK’s predictions went completely wrong. Uttar Pradesh, where he ran the campaign for the Congress in 2019, has seen a complete washout of the grand old party. His recent prediction that BRS would come to power in Telangana went wrong, with the Congress coming to power with a comfortable majority. The same happened in Rajasthan, where PK foresaw victory for the Congress, but in reality, BJP wrested the state from the Congress. He worked for Trinamool Congress in Goa, but the party failed to get even 5 per cent of votes in the state. His predictions about Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka have also gone wrong in recent times.
One important observation made by his peers is that not many political parties have hired his services a second time! What does this indicate? The Indian National Congress backtracked after some deliberations with the poll strategist. BJP, which used his services in 2014, has never requested his services again. Kishor, who was once termed as the political guru in Indian politics, has lost his charisma after he started working for rival parties and rival alliances. This has raised questions about the confidentiality in his operations and ethics in politics.
