Lagadapati Rajagopal has once again created a flutter with his recent hint that TDP will come back to power in 2019.
Of course, his credibility nosedived after he predicted a win for the TDP in Telangana but it was the TRS which returned to form the government with a thumping majority.
Lagadapati allegedly backed the TDP in Telangana at the behest of Chandrababu Naidu but more importantly, he was accused of cheating the general public.
How? Believing his prediction, many punters bet on Maha Kootami whereas Lagadapati himself allegedly made a lot of money by betting on the TRS.
But why do Lagadapati’s surveys get such media coverage? It is because no politician normally sticks his neck out and says that a certain Party will win.
The ruling party says it will come to power and so does the Opposition. Lagadapati’s past predictions have been successful but he gained fame because the results were contrary to the prevailing perceptions.
Whenever Lagadapati backed the underdogs and they won, his popularity increased and that has been his secret: backing the underdog.
He favours the Party not expected to win and this strategy has been quite successful for him till the recent Telangana Assembly polls. Obviously, with his backing of the TDP, he is continuing with his strategy.
Yet, it is equally pertinent that Lagadapati unlike other professional organisations does not have a team in place or a proper working methodology that uses established practices such as random sampling, co-relation analysis etc.
In all fairness, he might not even be aware of what these terms mean. What he has been doing till date is merely avoiding the favourites and taking random shots in the dark and it has paid quite beautifully for him.