Amarinder says Kishor joins his team as principal advisor

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said poll strategist Prashant Kishor has joined him as his principal advisor.

Happy to share that @PrashantKishor has joined me as my Principal Advisor. Look forward to working together for the betterment of the people of Punjab!, said Amarinder Singh in a tweet.

The development assumes significance as the Punjab Assembly elections are due early next year. Currently, Kishor’s company, 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. 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.

The development assumes significance as Punjab Assembly polls are due early next year