Prashant Kishor meets KCR at his farmhouse amid buzz of working for TRS in 2023 polls

Amid speculations that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has hired Political consultant and strategist Prashant Kishor for the forthcoming elections, he visited the Kaleshwaram project in Telangana’s Jayashankar Bhupalpally district on Sunday. He was accompanied by actor turned politician Prakash Raj-- thus fueling more speculations about his role in framing the incumbent government's policies and strategies for the upcoming elections. According to media reports, Kishor, who is more popular as PK has reportedly visited the farmhouse of incumbent Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in Siddipet-- around 116 km from the State capital, Hyderabad.

The report said that the duo had held an extensive discussion on the upcoming elections scheduled for next year. Further, the media reports also claimed that the poll strategist could be hired as an advisor of KCR. Apart from visiting Bhupalpally, and Siddipet, he was also reportedly visited Mallanna Sagar Reservoir which was built under the Kaleshwaram project. It is worth mentioning KCR also had a visit to Mumbai last week where he met his Maharastra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar. During the meeting, Prakash Raj was also present during his visit to Mumbai.

Notably, the poll strategist worked with several Chief Ministers during the Assembly elections including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, and had also worked with former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh.  Earlier last week, he had dined with his former boss Nitish Kumar at the Bihar Chief Minister's official home in Delhi. While speaking to reporters, Kumar admitted his meeting with Kishor and added it was a "courtesy" meeting. In a recent interview with multiple media houses, Kishor said he maintains a good relationship with Kumar and also put Bihar CM on the list of people whom he wishes to reconnect. 

Strained ties between I-PAC & TMC

Reportedly, disagreements broke out in Trinamool Congress over the candidates for the upcoming polls to 108 municipal bodies. After the party's official list of candidates was signed by TMC secretary-general, Partha Chatterjee and party president Subrata Bakshi was released, a different unsigned list of candidates was shared on the party's official social media handle. I-PAC was held responsible for the goof-up. After protests erupted, Mamata Banerjee was forced to step in and announce that the list released by Chatterjee and Bakshi was final.

Image: ANI