Prashant Kishor predicts big win for BJP in south, east: ‘You’d be surprised’

With only weeks left for the Lok Sabha polls, political strategist Prashant Kishor predicted that the BJP would make significant inroads in southern and eastern Indian states.

He asserted that the saffron side would “significantly add a number of seats in eastern and southern India” and witness a massive increase in vote share in Tamil Nadu.

“I had said this a year back that for the first time I see the BJP in double digits in Tamil Nadu in terms of vote share. They (BJP) will either be first or second party in Telangana which is a big thing. They will be number one in Odisha for sure. You would be surprised as, in all likelihood, to my mind, the BJP is going to be the number one party in West Bengal,” Prashant Kishor told news agency PTI during the interview.

He, however, predicted that the BJP is unlikely to surpass 370 seats in the 540-member Lok Sabha, which is the saffron side’s target in the forthcoming elections.

In the 2014 or 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP failed to exceed even 50 seats collectively in Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, West Bengal, and Bihar. The party won 29 seats in 2014 in these states, and 47 constituencies in 2019.

The political strategist further predicted that YSRC party supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy would find it “difficult” to make a comeback. The state is among four states, including Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim, to go into Assembly polls alongside the Lok Sabha elections.

“In Andhra Pradesh, it will be difficult for Jagan Mohan Reddy to make a comeback. There are many reasons. One of them is that there are leaders like Jagan Mohan Reddy who have become provider rather than being a leader. There’s a huge difference between being an elected leader and starting to think yourself as a provider,” Prashant Kishore said.

Prashant Kishor worked for Jagan Mohan Reddy in 2019 when his YSRC party had vanquished the incumbent Telugu Desam Party (TDP), now a BJP ally in the elections.