After YSR Congress party headed by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy lost power in the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections in June 2024, some of his close aides who were ruling the roost in the Tadepalli office till then quietly disappeared from the scene.
One such gentleman was Avinash Iragavarapu, better known as Trump Avinash, a political campaign strategist who had worked for Republican Party in USA in the past and later moved to his native state of Andhra Pradesh and started working for YSR Congress party.
Avinash was one of the key members of Jagan’s inner circle and was involved in conducting regular field surveys on the implementation of the welfare schemes implemented by the Jagan government.
He was also looking after the coverage of Jagan’s administrative decisions in the national media.
Sources said Avinash had played a key role in giving regular feedback to Jagan on the people’s perception.
Though he was looking pretty confident in public that Jagan would return to power for the second successive term, he realised that all was not well for the YSRCP before the elections.
Soon after the election results, Avinash quietly relinquished his job and stopped coming to Tadepalli. Apparently, Jagan was upset with him for not giving him the right feedback before the elections.
According to sources, Avinash made an attempt to work for Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana in the last one year, but BRS working president K T Rama Rao did not entertain him, as he was aware of Avinash’s job during Jagan’s regime.
He also tried his luck to do political consultancy job in some other states, including Bihar, but it did not work out. So, after keeping silent for a few days, he started lobbying to get back into Jagan’s fold, sources said.
According to latest reports, Jagan has taken Avinash back into the consultancy job and entrusted him with the task of coordinating the party organisation work, rebuilding the network from grassroots level to the state-level.
“If Avinash can make an impact on the party and help it come back to power, his stakes will go up again and he will be the most powerful man in the YSRCP again,” sources said.