Prashant Kishor has not minced words regarding his reservations about the Congress.
Highlights
- In August, Prashant Kishor quit as principal advisor to Amarinder Singh
- He had then said he would "not be involved" in the 2022 Punjab elections
- Mr Kishor had crafted the campaign for Amarinder Singh in 2017
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has indicated that the Congress is considering roping in election strategist Prashant Kishor again to craft next year's election campaign. A video from a strategy session of the party showed the Chief Minister, after discussing the reduction in power tariffs and the upbeat mood of party workers, saying, "Harish Chaudhary jee (the Punjab in-charge of Congress) was even advising to hire Prashant Kishore".
In August, Prashant Kishor resigned as Principal Advisor to then Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, saying he would "not be involved" in the 2022 state elections.
Mr Kishor had crafted the campaign for Amarinder Singh in 2017, simultaneously with the campaign in Uttar Pradesh for the Congress-Samajwadi Party that failed. Ties between him and the Congress have been strained since.
The election strategist since has not minced words regarding his reservations about the Congress and Rahul Gandhi.
In his last bout of criticism in October -- weeks after talks of his entry to Congress cooled off -- he had said the BJP will is not going anywhere and will remain at the "centre of Indian polity" whether they win or lose.
Then he added, "That is where the problem lies with Rahul Gandhi probably. He thinks it's just a matter of time that people will throw him away. That's not happening... Unless you examine, understand and take cognizance of (PM Modi's) strength, you will never be able to put (in place) a counter to defeat him."
In May, after Trinamool Congress's stupendous victory in Bengal, Mr Kishor, who crafted that campaign, had announced that he was "quitting this space". He is now back working for the Trinamool, laying the groundwork for Mamata Banerjee's campaign in Goa, the party's next target for next year.
Mr Kishor is known to get on well with Mamata Banerjee and his organization IPAC's continued service with Trinamool has created what many in the Congress camp, off record, had called a "conflict of interest".
The Congress's relationship with Trinamool, rocky over the last years, suffered free-fall after party mouthpiece "Jago Bangla" asserted that Mamata Banerjee and not Rahul Gandhi has emerged as the face of the opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In October, the two parties engaged in a full-scale twitter war, over Prashant Kishor's tweet that questioned the possibility of a revival of the Congress after the events of Lakhimpur Kheri.
"People looking for a quick, spontaneous revival of GOP led opposition based on the Lakhimpur Kheri incident are setting themselves up for a big disappointment… Unfortunately there are no quick-fix solutions to the deep-rooted problems and structural weakness of GOP," his tweet read.