Swinging votes in one’s favour is never easy, especially without maligning the opponent.
Using only strategies and understanding the voter’s psychology takes the whole process to another level. But Khammam-born Hyderabad resident, 25-year-old Phani Bhushan Kukkadapu is currently busy revolutionising the entire voting drama right from its roots.
Elaborating on how he came into the so-called dirty world of politics while his friends are happy with their parties and vacations, he says, “I dove into politics when I was pursuing my BTech in Computers from SRM University, Chennai. Even though I tried to take up a corporate job after graduation, nothing could satiate my hunger the way politics did. My passion for politics is more than anything else.”
He adds, “I was a part of Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption campaign and a member of the Aam Aadmi Party during 2011-12. I went as far as becoming a member of the National Advisory Committee of Hazare’s campaign and handled social media for Kejriwal’s party. Since then, there has been no looking back. Other politicians started approaching me to handle their social media. My first big break was during the Nandyal by-election.”
As Phani plunged into the world of politics and helped many other politicians with their political campaigns, his name grew in the circuit and reached other states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh besides Telangana.
“My clients are generally politicians who want to contest and win but at heart know that they are going to lose. My job starts from there — strategising the campaign and how and where the candidate should run their polling mandate. We first check the performance of all the candidates in the constituency to gauge voting patterns that could influence our client. Then comes image building and helping them with targets,” Phani shares.
Notably, of the six politicians he backed in the Telangana Legislative Assembly elections, five won. “Since childhood, I was interested in playing chess and participated in several national-level chess events. Chess and politics are very similar, both involve mind games and analyse behavioral psychology. For me, creating and maintaining a positive image and opinion matters,” says Phani.
With a team of 55 members, Phani is looking forward to creating more ripples in politics in the upcoming elections and is almost sure of joining active politics in the next few years.
“I am very young, even though I know I can do well in active politics even now. I just want to wait for a few years to gain more knowledge,” he concludes.
