AICC nod for Prashant Kishor to assist Punjab Congress in polls
Sunday, 14/02/2016
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New Delhi/Chandigarh: Prashant Kishor, poll strategist of Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls who later worked for Nitish Kumar in Bihar assembly elections in 2015 will now work for Punjab Congress in the forthcoming state elections to be held in early 2017.
Disclosing this, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh said “the All India Congress Committee has given its approval for Kishor to assist Punjab Congress in the forthcoming assembly elections in Punjab”.
Punjab assembly elections are due early next year and Congress which has been out of power for the last nine years after been defeated twice at the hustings by ruling Akali-BJP combine, is seeking to wrest power again.
Punjab Congress will work out its poll strategy jointly with Kishor in the run-up to the polls, especially in the wake of growing support for AAP, which had won four Lok Sabha seats, sources said.
They said that Amarinder has been working with Kishor for some time and he is also learnt to have told the Congress not to contest the Khadoor Sahib bypolls in the state.
Congress has since decided not to contest the bypolls, despite the AICC having officially declared the candidature of sitting MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki.
Sources said that Kishor has already started his work and is making an assessment of the ground situation along with surveys while formulating the party’s strategy.
Kishor and the Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), an election-campaign group he conceptualised, helped the Narendra Modi-led BJP win an absolute majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
In 2015, Kishor and some members of CAG regrouped as and started the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and started working for the 2015 Bihar assembly election.
Working closely with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Kishor helped Kumar’s “Grand Alliance” win the elections.
Capt Amarinder reiterates ‘one family one ticket’ policy
CHANDIGARH: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday reiterated that the party will go ahead with the policy of ‘one family one ticket’ in the forthcoming assembly elections in Punjab. He said, decision has been taken keeping in view the larger interest of the party.
The PCC president said he understood the concerns of some families which may be affected by the decision. “But in the larger interest of the party this is the minimum we can do”, he said, while pointing out in his own case his wife Preneet Kaur and son Raninder Singh will also be opting out.
The former Chief Minister said, “when we accuse Badal of political nepotism with so many members of his family in the assembly and criticise him for the same every now and then, we cannot and must not do the same thing ourselves”.
Capt Amarinder said, the policy will help in creating more space within the party to accommodate more people, particularly the youth, in the electoral process.
He said, this will also encourage first and fresh generation of new leaders who have not been born in political families but have all the attributes and qualities to become leaders.
“Let us create the space and opportunity for such promising people in the interest of the party and state as well”, he said while hoping everyone concerned will understand and cooperate with this policy which has been overwhelmingly hailed and appreciated by people across the state. DP
New Delhi/Chandigarh: Prashant Kishor, poll strategist of Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls who later worked for Nitish Kumar in Bihar assembly elections in 2015 will now work for Punjab Congress in the forthcoming state elections to be held in early 2017.
Disclosing this, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh said “the All India Congress Committee has given its approval for Kishor to assist Punjab Congress in the forthcoming assembly elections in Punjab”.
Punjab assembly elections are due early next year and Congress which has been out of power for the last nine years after been defeated twice at the hustings by ruling Akali-BJP combine, is seeking to wrest power again.
Punjab Congress will work out its poll strategy jointly with Kishor in the run-up to the polls, especially in the wake of growing support for AAP, which had won four Lok Sabha seats, sources said.
They said that Amarinder has been working with Kishor for some time and he is also learnt to have told the Congress not to contest the Khadoor Sahib bypolls in the state.
Congress has since decided not to contest the bypolls, despite the AICC having officially declared the candidature of sitting MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki.
Sources said that Kishor has already started his work and is making an assessment of the ground situation along with surveys while formulating the party’s strategy.
Kishor and the Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), an election-campaign group he conceptualised, helped the Narendra Modi-led BJP win an absolute majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
In 2015, Kishor and some members of CAG regrouped as and started the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and started working for the 2015 Bihar assembly election.
Working closely with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Kishor helped Kumar’s “Grand Alliance” win the elections.
