It''s official: Kishor is Cong strategist for Punjab polls

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 13

It's now official. Prashant Kishor, the man who steered JDU's Nitish Kumar to victory in Bihar polls, will now help Congress with the 2017 Punjab elections.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today vetted the move and approved the engagement of Kishor for Congress election planning in Punjab.

The approval was followed by a quick late evening meeting between Kishor and Punjab Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh, who is in Delhi today. The meeting took place at Capt's residence here. Preliminary discussions on Punjab are learnt to have been held.

Kishor, it is learnt, will begin campaign planning for the Punjab Congress by June as he does not want the election preparations to lose steam.

He had earlier sent teams to Punjab to conduct preliminary surveys. The data is ready and Kishor is learnt to be upbeat about Congress' traction in Punjab despite an apparent AAP wave.

Capt Amarinder Singh today told The Tribune that he would also stagger his election meetings to ensure his connect with the people sustains through 2016 until 2017 when elections take place. Party strategists feel he is going too fast.

"I will now plan my meetings to cover this long span of time ahead of polls, " said Capt who has been seen engaging actively with the electorate starting with students.

Punjab Congress chief said he had been asking for Kishor to be roped in since the beginning.

"Kishor's alignment with Congress is a positive sign, " he said.

The Congress meanwhile is also trying to rope in Prashant Kishor for UP elections, also scheduled in 2017.