Hyderabad: Calling the JD(U) vice-president, Prashant Kishor, a ‘Bihari dacoit’, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has said the political strategist was involved in getting voters’ names deleted in the state.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief, while addressing gatherings on Monday, also warned Kishor against trying his style of ‘Bihar politics’ to take control of the southern state.
“There is a consultant from Bihar, PK. He does surveys, strategies for Jagan (Reddy). He commits cybercrimes and also get voters deleted. This is not Bihar, this is Andhra Pradesh. If you behave in such a way here, we will chop your tail and send you back,” Naidu said.
The attack came at a time when the TDP is under scanner for a data theft case. The Naidu-led party is facing flak for allegedly profiling voters through an app and attempting to delete voters’ names in constituencies dominated by rival parties.
A Hyderabad-based private company, which developed the app for the party, had access to private and sensitive information of citizens from government database, according to Telangana Police.
“Prashant Kishor is more of a consultant to the YSR Congress. Why drag him into the mainstream? Also, it is an attempt to divert the attention of people from real issues. There is barely going to be any impact from all of this,” Telakapalli Ravi, a veteran journalist and political analyst, told News18.
Kishor’ team chalks out political strategies for opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy in the state.
In fact, Kishor is looked at as the key advisor in planning Reddy’s political journey.
With the latest attack, Naidu seemed to be building up the ‘Andhra’ sentiment among people by playing the outsider card.
“In his bid to attack Reddy, he is targeting Kishor. Naidu is trying to arouse that emotion among people that this is ‘our state’ and will not allow any person from other states to try and take control here. He says it is compromising the state’s interests,” professor Vishweshwar Rao, a political analyst, told News18.
Soon after, Kishor responded to Naidu’s attack and called the remarks derogatory. He said the TDP chief should instead focus on how to retain his seat in the state.
“An imminent defeat can rattle even the most seasoned politicians. So I’m not surprised with the baseless utterances of @ncbn Sirji rather than using derogatory language that shows your prejudice & malice against Bihar, just focus on why people of AP should vote for you again.” Kishor wrote on Twitter.
This is not the first time Naidu brought up the “Bihar-style politics angle” among people.
Earlier this month, the TDP chief had said that Bihar was a state where there was a lot violence, disrespect for laws and lack of political will.
He said Jagan had compromised the state’s interests by allowing an ‘outsider’ from Bihar to get into the state and play politics in a similar fashion.
However, analysts say the latest attack would barely have any impact on the polls or voters.
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