Chennai: Electoral strategist Prashant Kishor-led Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) is making inroads into Tamilnadu.
If sources are to be believed, Chief Minister and AIADMK joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami, who was in New Delhi to attend the Niti Aayog meet, had a meeting with Kishor.
A 13-member team is in Tamilnadu, functioning out of a small office at Chetpet.
Speaking to News Today, a junior associate of I-PAC, hired four months ago, said, “We are unaware of our top executives meet with AIADMK party leaders. In fact, we came to know about I-PAC’s possible association with the party through news outlets.”
When asked if I-PAC would work out strategies for the local body elections to be held in the State, he said, “They don’t mind whether it’s a State or civic body elections, but will do marketing and campaign strategies for the parties.”
He said he was preparing for competitive exams and thought it would be a platform to work with people.
“We have no idea about our founder Prashant Kishor’s meeting with Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami in Delhi or the possible tie-up for the upcoming State elections. We are kept in the loop by our top executives and we will be notified once the party signs a contract with our firm,” a senior team member said.
He was transferred from the Hyderabad office to Chennai.
Prashant is the go-to guy for national and regional parties in impossible political situations. According to initial reports, the AIADMK is in touch with the I-PAC top executives to rope them in for the next Assembly elections in the State which is 18 months away.
Kishor came into prominence after helping Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win an absolute majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in 2015.
He also aligned with YSR Congress Party in the recently-concluded State and parliamentary elections in Andhra Pradesh where the Y S Jaganmohan Reddy-led party decimated the incumbent Telugu Desam Party led by N Chandrababu Naidu.