LUCKNOW: With the UP Assembly elections due early next year, the main opposition Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav has got into election mode by roping in leading political consultancy firm I-PAC to design its campaign strategy across the state to challenge the ruling BJP led by UP CM Yogi Adityanath.
Although no senior SP leader officially confirmed the move, party leaders said on condition of anonymity that the firm was already active on the ground.
As per party sources, the I-PAC team was holding informal consultations with district level leaders to study the political pulse of the state at the ground level and identify comparatively weaker pockets and swing areas.
On the basis of the outcome of this exercise, the firm would draw up a poll strategy for the SP while helping it fine-tune its campaign at every level through outreach plans, catchy slogans and messaging that the public can identify with.
I-PAC, which is now led by Pratik Jain, was founded by Jan Suraj Party chief Prashant Kishor who played a significant role in designing the election campaigns of multiple political bigwigs including PM Narendra Modi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Kishor had pushed the SP and Congress to stitch an alliance for the 2017 UP assembly polls and had designed their campaign but withdrew midway after allegedly 'developing certain differences' with the parties.
However, the SP-Congress alliance fell flat in 2017 and could together win just 54 of the 403 assembly seats, with the SP dwindling from 229 in 2012 to 47, while the Congress could get only seven seats.