The humiliating defeat of YSR Congress party led by former chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the recent Andhra Pradesh assembly elections has kicked up an intense debate in the media and political circles as to what went wrong with him and his party.
Analysts across the country have tried to find out the reasons for such a massive defeat and many of them have come out with their own analysis.
But according to insiders in the YSRCP, the main reason for the defeat of the party in the elections is the lopsided strategy adopted by Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) headed by 35-year-old strategist Rishi Raj Singh.
Party sources said Rishi, who has little knowledge about the grassroot politics, has not only misled Jagan with his “out-of-the-box” ideas but also implemented them without proper study, which led to the ultimate debacle of the party.
According to these sources, Rishi came up with an idea of eliminating the entire party structure between Jagan and the voters.
“Drawing his model from the elections in the United States, Rishi suggested that it should be only Jagan, who has to be seen and heard by the voters all through the campaign,” sources said.
He has created an impression that the people would vote only for Jagan going by his governance and the welfare schemes, and all the MLA candidates are mere tools in the hands of Jagan to win the elections.
“As a result, the party network of leaders and cadres have become mere dummies,” sources said.
The I-PAC team has also created a sort of veil around Jagan and made him blind to what is happening at the field level.
“Rishi has managed a few leaders around Jagan, who would project a wrong picture before him, saying everything was perfect and the party is going to win more seats than what it had won in 2019,” sources added.