In the Punjab elections which is scheduled for early 2022, pollster Prashant Kishor may get to manage the strategy for Indian National Congress. As per party’s sources inside Congress, CM Amarinder Singh is in discussion with Prashant Kishor, a former JD(U) member and a star election strategist, and a decision may be announced soon in this regard.

While it is expected that Kishor will get the contract for advance poll-planning in the state, Congress members told that he could even get an official perch to manage the affairs.

Prashant Kishor has denied a report which says that he has accepted an offer from Madhya Pradesh Congress to handle its campaign for the 28 assembly seats where by-elections are to be held. When the loyalists of Jyotiraditya Scindia left the congress after the senior leader switched to the BJP, most of the seats fell vacant.

Kishor stated in an interview that it was not former Chief Minister Kamal Nath, but Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh who had approached him to take over the campaign for next assembly elections. He has further stated that he has not accepted the offer by the congress and that he is not inclined to take Congress party work in bits and pieces.

Congress sources have stated that Mr Kishor prefers a broader, long term engagement with the party, not work on a state-to-state basis. The sources in the congress further added that the party is aware of his feelings and his approach. But that is a call only the top leadership can take, not individual Chief Ministers or former Chief Ministers.

Mr. Kishor had made a sparkling debut in his career as a poll strategist with a hugely successful campaign for the current Indian Prime Minister in 2014. After his advice of infusing the talent and expertise from private sector was ignored and surfacing of prominent ideological differences, he parted company with the BJP.

Earlier this year, he handled a campaign for Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi.  Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party had pulled off a sweeping victory, almost replicating its record results of 2015.

He had also signed up with Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, who is facing a challenge from BJP which is trying to make a headway into Bengal. In February this year, he had signed up with MK Stalin’s DMK in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming polls in 2021 for TN assembly. Kishor had suggested DMK to go alone in the 2021 polls which has come as a surprise to the party top brass. DMK which is keen to avoid the 2016 debacle it faced against AIADMK will definitely take up the suggestions provided by Indian Political Action Committee led by Kishor. Analysis of on the ground scenario has revealed that the DMK is poised to win.  Next year, both TN and Bengal will go to polls and it represents a tougher task for the 43-year-old election strategist.

Immediately after the MP by-polls and the Bihar Assembly elections, things will start getting ready for Bengal election in 2021. The hold of Prashant Kishor over the electoral game in Bengal is appreciable given that it has made the Trinamool Congress party veterans a bit restless. Reports suggest that Kishor’s team of young people are handling the social media accounts of TMC party leaders. Besides this, people from IPAC had contacted some prominent leaders from the CPI(M) known for their work and integrity to switch and join TMC. The offers were refused by the CPI(M) party veterans. The TMC party is keen to win back the Jangalmahal regions, the tribal dominated areas into which BJP has made some inroads. In the Jangalmahal region(Midnapore, Jhargram, Bishnupur and Purulia), the BJP had started getting influence from 2014 and they gave a blow to the TMC in the 2018 panchayat polls. A source in the TMC stated with a note of observation that the locals in Jangalmahal had not voted for the BJP ideology but against the local TMC leaders who were known to be corrupt.This observation with inputs from Kishor has led the party to get busy in overhauling the structure especially in Bankura and Purulia districts. A functionary of Kishor’s IPAC has stated that TMC party is referring this as a purge in which leaders with poor performance and feedback from the ground are being removed and replaced with young and honest people in the roles.

Prashant Kishor has made his presence felt through the 2014 Lok Sabha Polls, but he is now the guiding force behind all the upcoming state assembly polls which will direct the fate of the states.

Editor Opinion, Biswarup Mukhopadhyay has given important inputs for the article.