Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday appointed strategist Prashant Kishor as his Principal Advisor for shaping the Congress poll campaign in 2022.
Kishor had played a crucial role in the 2017 Assembly elections to ensure Congress' victory in the state.
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Earlier, the Chief Minister said Kishor had responded positively to his request.
"Kishor expressed that he would be quite happy to come and help," said Amarinder, clearing the air amid media reports that the strategist had refused to handle the Congress campaign in the state.
The Chief Minister said he discussed the matter with the party chief Sonia Gandhi, who had left the decision (of hiring Kishor) on him.
Currently, Kishor's company, the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), is assisting Mamata Banerjee''s Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the West Bengal elections.
Kishor had handled the Congress poll campaign in the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. The Congress in 2017 had stormed to power by bagging 77 seats in the 117-member assembly.
Kishor was the brain behind Punjab Congress programmes like “Coffee with Captain” and “Punjab Da Captain” to drum up support for the party.
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Last year, the Punjab CM had said Kishor told him that he would be "quite happy" in handling the election campaign of the Congress in Punjab for the 2022 Assembly polls.
His claims had come amid media reports that Kishor had said no to handling the party's campaign in the state.
Amarinder Singh had then even said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had left it to him on roping in Kishor for the party's poll campaign in the state.
The CM had then said that he had even asked his party MLAs whether they want Kishor for the next Assembly polls.
"Out of 80 MLAs, 55 said yes, they want him," Singh had then said.
Kishor had also managed Narendra Modi''s campaign for prime ministership in the 2014 General Election
(with inputs from agencies)
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