Chief Ministers K Chandrashekar Rao and Nitish Kumar. (File)
Its founder Prashant Kishor has moved on to a fulltime political career in Bihar, but I-PAC, the political strategy firm he quit last year, continues to work with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's party TRS. Putting speculation to rest, the firm has clarified that it is in "full action" at Munugode where a fiercely fought assembly bypoll will take place on November 3.
Speculation about the IPAC-TRS coordination started soon after the Chief Minister KCR announced plans for the party to go national, renaming it Bharat Rashtra Samithi on October 5 — new name approval pending from the Election Commission. KCR has also stood with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Mr Kishor's rival in his home state.
More than 60 professionals from I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee) are working on the ground in Munugode for the TRS, the firm's officials have said. A special communications team for the constituency has been set up in Hyderabad monitors the media, including social networking platforms.
The TRS has over 80 area in-charges for grassroots outreach in the segment. They are being provided with "all kinds of intelligence and possible resolutions for prompt and effective actions" by I-PAC. The company shares "leader monitoring and analysis report" daily with the party.
There is also a campaign with dummy voting machines to make sure people know how to vote. While TRS teams are going to every household to educate the people , the campaign is being "facilitated and closely monitored" by I-PAC, it is learnt.
The company website lists engineers Rishi Raj Singh and Pratik Jain, and lawyer Vinesh Chandel as directors.
Prashant Kishor, meanwhile, is on a 'padyatra' in Bihar since October 2 and intends to cover 3,500 km on foot before his campaign evolves into a political party. Having got fame after working for Narendra Modi in the 2014 campaign, he and the company later worked for the Congress and several regional parties in state elections.
He announced his retirement from consultancy last year after he helped Mamata Banerjee pull off a sensational victory in West Bengal.