For Sheila Dikshit, Prashant Kishor Preps Age-Appropriate Slogan

New Delhi: In what most may decree a drawback, Prashant Kishor, election strategist, sees an opportunity.

So Sheila Dikshit's age, 78, will be packaged by him both as only-acquired-by-living-it experience and an emotional appeal. "Mere jeewan ka ek hi sapna Uttar Pradesh ko Dilli jaisa banana" (my last ambition is to develop Uttar Pradesh like Delhi) is the slogan devised for the launch of her bid for Chief Minister, said sources close to Mr Kishor.

Ms Dikshit's nomination by the Congress was formalised on Thursday though weeks of hints by some in the party and denials by others made short work of  any potential zing in the announcement, a downside acknowledged by the candidate.

"It would have been better had it (the decision on the chief ministerial candidate) been taken earlier. But if that has not been the case, it is now, we have to make the best use of whatever time we have now," said Ms Dikshit to NDTV.

Sources say that Mr Kishor, who, at 37, is less than half her age, will hard-sell Ms Dikshit's three terms as Chief Minister of Delhi to Uttar Pradesh. In combination with her professional stripes, he will focus on her marriage into a Brahmin family to collate the upper caste vote around the Congress.

Mr Kishor earned his reputation as an electoral strategy expert with his seat at the high table for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign in 2014. After that, he broke with the BJP.
 Amidst reports of his coming up against the Congress' well-documented indecision and hierarchy, those  who work closely with Mr Kishor deny that he was opposed to another Congress choice - that of Raj Babbar as the chief of the party in UP. Mr Babbar, once a popular actor and then a Samajwadi Party leader, entered the Congress in 2008 and months later, established his worth by winning a parliamentary constituency over Dimple Yadav, wife of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

While Mr Babbar's movie-star appeal will be milked at rallies across the state, sources close to Mr Kishor say that Sanjay Singh, chosen to head the Congress' campaign committee, will be able to enthuse cadres in and around Amethi. Mr Singh belongs to the former royal family here; it is the constituency of Rahul Gandhi, who, as No 2 in the Congress, reports only to his mother Sonia who is party president.  A less flattering appraisal is that passing over Mr Singh, 64, could have proved perilous. He once quit the Congress to join the BJP, returning to the fold in 2003, and was placated with a Rajya Sabha seat in 2014 when he appeared to be considering a sequel revolt.

Mr Kishor is straddling the Congress strategy for Punjab as well, where the incumbent BJP - Akali government is poorly regarded. But it is Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party or AAP that have so far caught the attention of the state. In the national election, AAP, then just two years old, landed a surprise booty of four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab.

Here, too, Mr Kishor has to ‎ market a very senior citizen. Captain Amarinder Singh, the Congress' presumptive Chief Minister, is 74. His selling point, as presented by Mr Kishor: "Mera ek hi sapna hai Punjab koh mazboot banana".