: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor, hired by the Congress to assist it in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, had a tough time dealing with party leaders in both States. Yet, oddly enough, he was engaged a week ago — on December 30 — to help out in Uttarakhand as well, and is already being credited with the slogan: “ Baaki sab sapne hain, Harish Rawat apne hain ” (”The rest is a dream, Harish Rawat is ours”). The Congress’s Mr. Rawat is Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister.
Ambika Soni, Congress general secretary and in charge of party affairs in Uttarakhand, confirmed on Wednesday that Mr. Kishor had been hired to manage the campaign for Uttarakhand, where the Assembly polls are slated to be held on February 15. He is said to have the ability to make the party he is working for “a talking point”, and devise grassroots programmes for party workers, the implementation of which is ensured by the neutrality of his position.
With just over a month left for elections in Uttarakhand, she said Mr. Kishor would help strategise the party’s campaign there and will work in coordination with Congress leaders in the State.
Offers his services
Interestingly, it is learnt that it was Mr. Kishor who offered his services for Uttarakhand.
Party sources said that in Uttarakhand, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had engineered the toppling of the Congress government earlier this year (later restored through a court order), the theme will be Uttarakhandi pride and self-esteem.
Mr. Kishor shot into the limelight after helping the campaigns of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in his 2015 Grand Alliance campaign in that State. Since then, however, his dealings with the Congress in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have not been as smooth. In Punjab, he has often clashed with senior leaders such as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Amarinder Singh, for whom he devised programmes such as “Coffee with Captain” and “Halke vich Captain” (‘Captain in the Assembly constituency’), as well as an outreach programme for farmers that included enrolling them, promising to waive their bank loans and increasing the minimum support price for their crops, if voted to power.
