I-PAC To Work With TRS in Telangana, Prashant Kishor Won't Be Involved: KTR

I-PAC will not decide everything about the campaign run by TRS, KT Rama Rao said.

Prashant Kishor's I-PAC will help TRS in 2023 elections, Telangana working president and state minister K Taraka Rama Rao said. 

(Image: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

Ahead of the Telangana Legislative Assembly elections, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president KT Rama Rao said on Sunday, 24 April, that political consultancy company Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), will be working with the party.

However, KTR clarified that TRS will only work with I-PAC and not with Prashant Kishor, who was leading the organisation earlier.

Kishor, who is speculated to join the Congress party, was at Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's residence in Hyderabad since Saturday, 23 April. The meeting concluded on Sunday.

KTR: 'I-PAC to Only Support TRS, Party Has Strong Base'

Rao, who is popularly called KTR, had met Kishor before he held the media briefing in Hyderabad.

The minister said that TRS is only looking for inputs from I-PAC, adding that Kishor is not linked to I-PAC anymore.

The poll strategy organisation will not decide everything about the campaign run by TRS, which has a strong base in Telangana he said. The party does have enough resources and strength to win the 2023 elections, he added.

"There is no anti-incumbency in Telangana," KTR claimed. The party has been continuously winning elections, except for an occasional rout, he added.

In keeping with the TRS' current strategy of playing a role in national politics, KTR extended support to Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani, who got arrested last week over two of his tweets. KTR said that Prime Minister Modi says he follows Gandhiji but he has been covertly supporting followers of Nathuram Godse.

Godse was a terrorist, and any party which supports Godse should not be trusted, the minister added. KTR said that he supports the views expressed by Jignesh Mevani in his tweets.

Congress Miffed with Kishor's Ties with TRS

Meanwhile, Congress Member of Parliament (MP) and state-in-charge Manickam Tagore tweeted an image, with a cryptic text, that read, "Never trust someone who is friends with your enemy."

He tweeted it along with the caption that read, "Is it correct?"

Telangana Chief Minister and TRS leader K Chandrashekar Rao had earlier said that he has been in talks with the political strategist to initiate a "national change" in the country, adding that Kishor has been his "best friend" for the past seven to eight years.

"I am in talks with Prashant Kishor to bring a national change. Prashant Kishor is working with me on this. Who can have a problem with this? Why are they seeing him as a bomb? Why are they crying?" the CM had said while addressing a press conference in Hyderabad.

"Prashant Kishor has never worked for money. He is not a paid worker. I am sorry you don't understand his commitment to the country," CM KCR had said.