Prashant Kishor, the star poll strategist known for designing campaign for Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls and steering Nitish Kumar to Bihar CM’s chair, has tied up with Congress for upcoming UP and Gujarat Assembly elections. Noteworthy, he is also assisting the Congress in Punjab.
Prashant Kishor has confirmed the development of joining hands with Congress.
Currently, Prashant Kishor is also an adviser to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. Kishor, who was credited with planning the astounding victory of ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in Bihar, was appointed as advisor to the Bihar CM.
Kishor will reportedly ask for Priyanka Gandhi to be projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate. Kishor also wants a new team of professionals as he is unimpressed with the current one.
He will work from the party’s war room at Gudwara Rakabganj Road in Delhi. His job will be to provide key inputs in candidate selection, apart from election strategy, rallies, publicity campaign, etc. He has asked for complete liberty to reshape the party’s campaign without any meddling from Congress state and central leaders.
Earlier this month, reports had also stated that he would work for the Congress in Punjab, which will also go to the polls in 2017. The Congress which has been out of power for the last nine years after been defeated twice at the hustings by ruling Akali-BJP combine, is seeking to wrest power again.
Ever since the Bihar elections, the question of what he would do next has been a matter of intense speculation in political circles. But Kishor was clear that whatever he did had to be a building block for the big battle of 2019. And that is why he has been in conversation with the Congress leadership to work in some capacity with the party in reviving his fortunes. This conversation has happened with the explicit consent of Nitish Kumar – who recognises that despite its diminished strength, the Congress garnered over 10 crore votes in the 2014 elections. No alternative to the BJP is possible without some kind of Congress revival.
