Five months after Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh appointed the renowned poll strategist as his principal adviser allotting the Cabinet rank, Prashant Kishor, on Thursday resigned from the post saying he was taking “a temporary break from active role in public life”.
The move, which comes months ahead of the crucial 2022 State Assembly elections, has served a major blow to Capt Amarinder as Kishor was expected to formulate his election campaign.
Kishor, in the run-up to the 2017 Punjab polls, had successfully designed the Congress’ campaign and devised unique programmes like “Punjab Da Captain”, and “Coffee with Captain” to mobilise support for the party.
In fact, Congress’ resounding victory by claiming two-third majority was attributed to Kishor who successfully managed the party’s poll campaign. The plans of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which, at that time, was perceived as the frontrunner, fell flat restricting it to just 20 seats, while pushing SAD-BJP combine to the distant third.
The development also assumed significance as it comes close on the heels of Navjot Singh Sidhu’s appointment as the State Congress president and at a time when the Chief Minister was facing a rebellion of sorts from his own party leaders, including Ministers and legislators, over the non-fulfillment of the promises the party made ahead 2017 elections.
Passing through rough seas, Capt Amarinder was banking on Kishor to save his sinking ship. Notably, the party high command has reportedly conveyed to Capt Amarinder that he would be the party’s Chief Ministerial face for 2022 polls in the State, scheduled to be held early next year.
Even as Kishor’s resignation was not unexpected, it has sent a shockwave in the Chief Minister’s camp.
“In view of my decision to take a temporary break from active role in public life, I have not been able to take over the responsibilities as your Principal Advisor. Since I am yet to decide on my future course of action, I write to request you to kindly relieve me from this responsibility,” said Kishor in his letter to the Chief Minister.
Notably, Kishor had already made clear his intentions of discontinuing his work as poll strategising the day results for West Bengal Assembly polls were announced.
The speculations were rife that Kishor would resign as the Chief Minister’s Principal Advisor as the poll strategist had not visited Punjab ever since Bengal polls.
However, Capt Amarinder had met Kishor in Delhi recently when the Chief Minister was in the national Capital to meet the party high command constituted a three-member panel, led by Mallikarjun Kharge, to resolve the infighting in the State Congress unit.
In fact, it has been learnt, that Kishor had given enough indications to several leaders from the State that he would not continue on this post further.
Kishor’s resignation also comes at a time when the election strategist, who so far has a 100 per cent success rate, has been holding meetings with the Congress top leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, giving indications that he may work with the grand-old-party at the national level. There are also unconfirmed reports that Congress is planning to formally induct Kishor into the party.
It may be mentioned that Capt Amarinder had, in March, appointed Kishor as his Principal Advisor in the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister.
As per the notification issued by the General Administration Department, Kishor’s association with the Chief Minister was to be co-terminus with Capt Amarinder’s tenure as the Chief Minister.
It also mentioned that Kishor would take a token honorarium of Re one and was entitled to perks including a Government residence and half a dozen staff members.
He was also to get free transport, free air travel, telephone, and medical facilities, besides an office in Punjab Civil Secretariat, which he never attended.
After being appointed the Principal Advisor, Kishor had visited Punjab once and had held an interaction with Congress’ first-time legislators to get their feedback on various issues including the implementation of poll promises.
He had earlier also held meetings with top aides of the Punjab Chief Minister, administrative secretaries, and key officials of various departments. His team, I-PAC, had also conducted a few surveys in the state.
Subsequent to that, Kishor had then asked the officials to prepare a list of doable works as promised by the Congress ahead of the 2017 elections. Later, he had also taken feedback about the Congress perception among people from the MLAs.
Forty-four years old Kishor had first made a name for himself as a poll strategist for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his maiden Lok Sabha election in 2014. After that, Capt Amarinder had employed Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) to handle his poll campaign in Punjab in the 2017 Assembly polls - which led to a resounding victory for the Congress in the State.
He has become a much sought after figure for most non-BJP parties to bolster their chances of winning elections. He has previously handled election campaigns for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, with Mamata Benerjee-led Trinamool Congress’ campaign for the 2021 West Bengal elections latest in his success list.
Kishor also assisted Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and joined the JDU but quit the party later over differences.