Prashant Kishor had designed Nitish Kumar's winning campaign for the Bihar assembly elections in November last year. (File photo)
Patna:
Election strategist Prashant Kishore's assignment to script a Congress campaign has been extended to the crucial Uttar Pradesh elections next year, sources say.
Mr Kishore has already been engaged by the Congress for assembly elections in Punjab, also to be held in 2017. There has also been talk that he could be roped in by the main opposition party for the 2019 national elections, when it will attempt to undo the disaster of 2014 when it could win only 44 Lok Sabha seats after ruling at the Centre for 10 years.
Congress leaders said a decision on that would be taken based on the outcome of the two state elections.
While in Punjab the Congress senses a chance to stage a comeback after being out of power for 10 years, the party has been reduced to a minor player in Uttar Pradesh over the last few elections, with regional heavyweights Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party dominating the state's politics and the BJP sweeping 71 of the state's 80 seats in the 2014 national elections.
Prashant Kishor had designed Nitish Kumar's winning campaign for the Bihar assembly elections in November last year, a victory that the Congress shared as the junior partner of Mr Kumar's Janata Dal United and Lalu Yadav's RJD.
Mr Kishor, 37, shot to fame as the man who designed some of the most successful elements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's national election campaign, including the "chai pe charcha"or a discussion over tea.
He began managing the campaign of Nitish Kumar, one of PM Modi's sharpest critics, soon after the BJP won the national elections.
Mr Prashant will have to juggle his Congress assignments with his official job as advisor on policy and programme implementation to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Sources close to him said his team has already started work from where the Congress War Room functioned in Patna for the Bihar elections. They also said that Nitish Kumar met UP politician Ajit Singh earlier this month to explore bringing together a group of parties under the leadership of the Congress for the Uttar Pradesh elections.
Mr Kishore has already been engaged by the Congress for assembly elections in Punjab, also to be held in 2017. There has also been talk that he could be roped in by the main opposition party for the 2019 national elections, when it will attempt to undo the disaster of 2014 when it could win only 44 Lok Sabha seats after ruling at the Centre for 10 years.
Congress leaders said a decision on that would be taken based on the outcome of the two state elections.
While in Punjab the Congress senses a chance to stage a comeback after being out of power for 10 years, the party has been reduced to a minor player in Uttar Pradesh over the last few elections, with regional heavyweights Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party dominating the state's politics and the BJP sweeping 71 of the state's 80 seats in the 2014 national elections.
Prashant Kishor had designed Nitish Kumar's winning campaign for the Bihar assembly elections in November last year, a victory that the Congress shared as the junior partner of Mr Kumar's Janata Dal United and Lalu Yadav's RJD.
Mr Kishor, 37, shot to fame as the man who designed some of the most successful elements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's national election campaign, including the "chai pe charcha"or a discussion over tea.
He began managing the campaign of Nitish Kumar, one of PM Modi's sharpest critics, soon after the BJP won the national elections.
Mr Prashant will have to juggle his Congress assignments with his official job as advisor on policy and programme implementation to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Sources close to him said his team has already started work from where the Congress War Room functioned in Patna for the Bihar elections. They also said that Nitish Kumar met UP politician Ajit Singh earlier this month to explore bringing together a group of parties under the leadership of the Congress for the Uttar Pradesh elections.
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