Public Life
Campaigns & Public Communications
Between 2017 and 2024, alongside my business work, I spent seven years inside some of the largest public communications exercises in India: election campaigns in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where a single programme has to reach millions of people, on foot, in person and online, on a fixed deadline.
This page collects my first-person notes on that work. They describe how the campaigns were run. They are not an argument for or against any party.
01The record
What I worked on
Praja Sankalpa Yatra, 2017–19
I was the point of contact with YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for his padayatra. Alongside the political consultancy team, which reported to me, I coordinated with leaders on the ground so the yatra ran well end to end, and the campaign's messaging, PR, social media, print media and paid media were managed through me. The yatra ran from 6 November 2017 to 9 January 2019 and covered 3,648 km in 341 days.
ARF (Arjun Reddy Family)
Along the way I built a youth volunteer network called ARF. By my own count it grew to roughly 15,000 to 20,000 young people across constituencies.
The 2019 campaign
On-ground and offline execution and social media outreach for the 2019 YSRCP campaign, and coordination of its campaign communications across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Outreach programmes and the 2024 campaign
Coordination of campaign activities through Gadapa Gadapaku (door-to-door outreach, from May 2022), Aarogya Suraksha (health camps, from September 2023) and the 2024 Siddham campaign in Andhra Pradesh, and coordination of the 2024 campaign communications across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
02Transferable craft
Why this matters to a business reader
A state-wide campaign is a public communications programme with a hard deadline and no second launch. The craft is the same one a company needs when it enters a new market: plan the route, put people on the ground, listen and measure, and keep the message consistent across rallies, doorsteps and phones.
Large-scale public communications
Public meetings, rallies and message discipline across many districts at once.
Field operations
Routes, logistics, local coordination and booth-level teams that turn a plan into daily execution.
Listening at scale
Surveys and doorstep feedback built into a loop that changes what happens next.
Digital outreach
Social media that extends what is happening on the ground rather than replacing it.
Volunteer networks
Recruiting, training and keeping thousands of young volunteers engaged over years.
03Campaign Notes
The essays
- 01My Journey in Political Campaign Management: From the Praja Sankalpa Yatra to Siddham
Between 2017 and 2024 I was deeply involved in the ground execution of YSRCP campaigns in Andhra Pradesh. This is what that work taught me about organisation, people and responsibility.
- 02Inside the Praja Sankalpa Yatra: The Logistics of a 3,648 km Padayatra
A padayatra looks like one man walking. In reality it is a moving town that has to be fed, housed, routed, informed and measured every single day for 341 days.
- 03How to Run a Political Padayatra: A Practical Playbook
A padayatra is a long-standing campaign format in Indian politics, and a demanding one to run. Here is the playbook I would hand to anyone attempting one.
- 04Building ARF: How We Grew a Youth Network Across Andhra Pradesh
A volunteer network is not a database of phone numbers. It is a set of promises kept: that people will be respected, informed and given something meaningful to do.
- 05Youth Mobilisation in Indian Elections: Lessons from the Ground
Young voters are often described as a bloc to be captured. In my experience they are better understood as people looking for a real role.
- 06The 2019 YSRCP Campaign: Lessons in Ground Execution
The 2019 result was decided long before polling day, in thousands of small, unglamorous tasks done well and on time.
- 07Booth-Level Management: Where Indian Elections Are Really Won
Speeches win headlines. Booths win elections. Every one of Andhra Pradesh's 46,000-plus polling stations is its own small campaign.
- 08Political Surveys and Ground Feedback Loops: Listening at Scale
Every campaign collects feedback. Few build a loop where what is heard on the ground actually changes what happens next.
- 09Political Social Media Campaigns: A Playbook from Andhra Pradesh
Political social media works when it extends what is happening on the ground and fails when it replaces it. Here are the principles I would keep.
- 10Door to Door: What Gadapa Gadapaku and Aarogya Suraksha Taught Me About Outreach
Visiting every household in a state is the most demanding form of communication there is. It is also the most honest, because people tell you exactly what is not working.
- 11The Siddham Campaign, 2024: Executing the Four Siddham Meetings
A meeting of several lakh people is a temporary city built for a single afternoon. Siddham asked us to build four of them in six weeks.
- 12151 Seats and 11 Seats: Lessons from Winning and Losing Elections
I worked on the YSRCP campaigns that produced one of Andhra Pradesh's biggest wins and, five years later, one of its sharpest reversals. Both had something to teach.
These essays describe my work on campaigns. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have lively democracies, and I respect everyone who takes part in them, including those on the other side of the ballot.
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