Ever since YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced that poll wizard Prashant Kishor would work for the YSRCP, there is disquiet in the party. Several leaders are upset. They feel that his highhanded ways and arbitrary decisions will do no good for the party. They strongly feel that his contribution to the YSRCP victory in 2019 is grossly overrated.

Even in the run-up to the 2019 elections, Prashant Kishor has behaved in a very high-handed manner, say YSRCP insiders. There were complaints that the Team PK did a clerical job by tabulating the details that the party leaders had diligently collected. YSRCP incharges, leaders, social media activists and booth committees worked hard while the IPAC claimed the credit. They took the leaders and cadres for granted, say sources. Now that the same PK team is going to come, there is dissent in the party.

Those who worked for the party before 2019 say that PK or his team members switched off their phones soon after the elections and remained accessible. They made many leaders spend huge money for the surveys, but stayed out of touch with them later. One leader from Prakasam district said that he was made to shell out nearly Rs 2 crore for Team PK’s work. But once the election was over, they stopped responding to his calls.

Several party leaders, who have bitter experiences of the past with them, are contemplating staying aloof from PK’s surveys. Some MLA ticket aspirants were made to cough up huge amounts and were finally refused tickets. They weren’t compensated either. This time around, they do not want to join the surveys and burn their fingers again.