A Congress worker put up a poster offering Rs 5 lakh to anyone who could 'find' Prashant Kishor.
A poster appeared outside the Congress party office in Lucknow on Monday which offered Rs 5 lakh to anyone who could find poll strategist Prashant Kishor. The poster was reportedly put up by Rajesh Singh, a secretary of the UP Congress Committee. An embarrased Raj Babbar asked party workers to immediately remove it.
Rajesh Singh told CNN News 18: “For the last one year, we have been made to work like fools…without asking any questions. We were told to work as he (Kishor) wanted us to but without any ifs and buts. We did so thinking that probably it was best for the revival of the party. But now we need answers.”
Talking to reporters later, Babbar claimed that it was too early to blame anyone for the poll debacle. While Kishore’s campaign failed in UP, he did help the Congress come to power in Punjab. He had assured leaders that the alliance would not get less than 190 seats, while the BJP would end up with less than 150 seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) below 70.
Congress lost all four assembly seats in Amethi district, with BJP bagging three of them. BJP nominee Garima Singh defeated tainted minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati of Samajwadi Party, though the margin was less than 5000. In Tiloi, BJP candidate Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh defeated BSP nominee Md Saud, son of sitting MLA Dr Muslim. In Jagdishpur (Reserved), BJP candidate Suresh Passi has defeated his nearest rival and sitting Congress MLA Radhey Shyam Dhobi. In Rae Bareli, the BJP won two of the six seats-- Rai Bareilly (Congress), Unchahar (SP), Sareni (BJP), Bacharwan (BJP) and Harchandpur (Congress).
Punjab has been a saving grace for Kishor. He was actually romped in by Captain Amrinder Singh to design his campaign. However, in Punjab the ruling Akali Dal-BJP combine was already fighting anti-incumbency. Kishor’s strategy was aimed at ensuring that the Aam Admi Party did not get the advantage of that.
In UP, he faced resistance from various quarters, including general secretaries and in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad. But everyone fell in line, after he convinced Rahul Gandhi about stitching alliance with the ruling SP.
Kishor was earlier working as a health expert for a programme of the United Nations in Africa, before he returned to India and joined the election campaign of Modi. He organised the “chai pe charcha” campaign for Modi in the run-up to 2014. For the assembly polls, he organised a farmer-centric campaign, revolving around the Gandhis and Shiela Dikshit.
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