One of the most overrated names in the Indian polity is political consultant Prashant Kishor and his I-PAC. The only feather in the cap of Kishor is winning already won elections and wherever there was a challenge, he and his team at I-PAC have failed gloriously. After successfully destroying West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress, Kishor has now joined as the Principal Advisor to Punjab CM Amarinder Singh with an eye on the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections slated to be held early next year.
Yesterday, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh took to Twitter to announce the decision to make Prashant Kishor his Principal Advisor. It is pertinent to note that Kishor has been appointed in the rank and status of a cabinet minister. While it was expected that Amarinder Singh would sail through in the next year’s Punjab Assembly elections, the decision to appoint Kishor can quickly change things as the poll strategist has a history of triggering intra-party disputes which can derail the Captain’s campaign.
Happy to share that @PrashantKishor has joined me as my Principal Advisor. Look forward to working together for the betterment of the people of Punjab!
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) March 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/CMOPb/status/1366349084672417797?s=20
As the political legacy of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee hurtles towards an inglorious end, Prashant Kishor has had a major role to play in ensuring a resounding defeat of the TMC. The high-handedness of Kishor and his team has sparked a mass exodus from the TMC with all the party stalwarts – Dinesh Trivedi, Suvendhu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee all directly or indirectly hitting out at Kishor post their exit from the TMC.
Trivedi, the founding member of TMC, attacked Kishor left, right and centre post his exit as he claimed that Kishor’s team took over his social media and put out abusive posts.
The former Union Railway Minister said, “I don’t know who tweets, but the fact is, they do take our account password details. In good faith I shared but many times I’d see abusive tweets. I had to put my foot down and asked them to delete or I would. The governor also realized that Dinesh can’t use such abusive language. One day they tweeted in Hindi, abusing the PM and used a bad word. I said that firstly, I don’t tweet in Hindi and this isn’t my language. My image would be tarnished. They want some kind of conflict with the Centre all the time, but I don’t believe in that.”
Kishor has a penchant for biting off the hand that feeds him and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar can attest to this fact. Kumar actively aided Kishor’s rise in the Indian polity and even made him the Vice President of Janata Dal (United). However, Kishor was later thrown out of the party after his incessant personal attacks against the Bihar Chief Minister.
As the TMC heads for a glorious split thanks to Kishor and his I-PAC, things in Punjab are all set to get interesting as murmurs of dissent within the INC is already palpable. ThePrint reported state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar as claiming that he has had no prior knowledge about Kishor’s appointment. “I am not in the loop on this,” said Jakhar.
Reportedly, last year, Jakhar and the then Congress in-charge Asha Kumari and a section of cabinet ministers and other leaders were also against Kishor being parachuted into the hustle and bustle of Punjab politics. The decision to award cabinet rank to Kishor is likely to create a discord within the INC as party leaders who have worked tirelessly on the ground might feel hard done by with Kishor’s appointment.
Kishor’s deft strategical skills were abundantly displayed during the 2017 UP elections as his carefully constructed alliance of SP-INC came out to be a massive cropper as the BJP crossed the 300 mark in the UP Assembly. The Rahul Gandhi of political strategists has also vowed to quit the space if the BJP managed to cross double digits in West Bengal and it remains to be seen whether Kishor will be true to his word once the BJP’s victory becomes official.