Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar may get to play major role in upcoming Assembly Polls in Telangana

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

DK Shivakumar may get to play a major role in the upcoming Assembly polls in Telangana as the Congress gears up to take on the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), led by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Revanth Reddy is said to be already in consultation with Shivakumar, who is also the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). The AICC is likely to assign him a major role connected with the elections, along with other important leaders and strategists.

The party is expected to use the same playbook it did in Karnataka — extensive use of data based on a series of surveys to drive its election campaign and promise of populist guarantees to voters. Political strategist Sunil Kanugolu had played a big role in devising campaign strategies and in the selection of candidates in Karnataka, which he is expected to do in Telangana too. The Congress is pinning high hopes that its Karnataka strategies combined with a possible anti-incumbency wave would make the contest difficult for the BRS, which has been ruling the southern state since 2014.

Sections of Telangana Congress leaders have already been in touch with Shivakumar, taking inputs on organisational and strategic matters, sources in the party said. The Congress last ruled the undivided Andhra Pradesh 10 years ago with Kiran Kumar Reddy as its last chief minister. The party suffered a major blow after its charismatic leader, the then chief minister YS Rajashekara Reddy, died in a helicopter crash in 2009.