NO TURF WAR BETWEEN CAPT, KISHOR: CONG
Tuesday, 17/05/2016
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NEW DELHI: Amid reports of unease within the party over poll strategist Prashant Kishor's reported suggestion that Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi should be declared the party's chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress on Monday clarified that his role was limited only to suggesting relevant points for manifesto and election campaign in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
Kishor, who is also looking after the Congress campaign in Punjab, had rubbed state Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh the wrong way by meeting expelled leaders Jagmeet Singh Brar and Bir Devinder. The move had enraged Amarinder who asserted that no one had authorised Kishor to meet the expelled leaders and that he should not exceed his limits.
"Prashant Kishor is a poll strategist and he will suggest which points are to be highlighted in our manifesto and in our campaign," said Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmad, who is in-charge of party affairs in Punjab. "It was made clear to him before his appointment that he will have no role in organisational matters and in ticket distribution," he said.
The statement was widely seen as an attempt by the central leadership to address the concerns of party leaders and workers in the two poll-bound states. "He has finally been shown his place," said a leader from UP.
Last month, a section in the UP Congress had complained to the central leadership about Kishor's "autocratic style of functioning" and "unsolicited interference" in organisational affairs. Ahmad insisted there was no turf war between Amarinder and Kishor.
