Cong tells Kishor to keep out of party matters

NEW DELHI: The Congress has asked poll strategist Prashant Kishor to “focus on his role” of providing relevant inputs for the manifesto and “not interfere” in organisational affairs, sources said. Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh had to issue a statement on Monday clarifying that ticket allotment is the sole prerogative of party chief Sonia Gandhi.

NEW DELHI: The Congress party has asked poll strategist Prashant Kishor to “focus on his role” of providing relevant inputs for the manifesto and devising a “winnable” election campaign in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab and “not interfere” in organisational affairs, party sources said.

The directive has come in the wake of growing unease within the Congress in both the pollbound states over Kishor and his team’s “unnecessary meddling into party matters”.

Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh had to issue a statement on Monday clarifying that ticket allotment is the sole prerogative of party chief Sonia Gandhi following reports that the India Political Action Committee (IPAC), headed by Kishor, will be involved in screening and selection of candidates.

“IPAC has no role in selection process and it has only an advisory role limited to strategy,” he said, adding administration, management and implementation of party programme and strategy “has been and will always remain” the sole prerogative of the state unit.

Amarinder further clarified that neither he nor the central leadership has authorised any agency for screening or selection of party candidates, making it clear that Kishor and his team will not be involved in the key process.

Though the Congress leadership has acceded to Kishor’s persistent demand for removal of Madhusudan Mistry and Nirmal Khatri as general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh and state chief respectively, the sources confirmed that his choice of names for their replacements were not accepted.

With the appointment of a party veteran like Ghulam Nabi Azad as general secretary in-charge of UP, a central leader said Kishor’s “wings have been clipped” and that he “no longer calls the shots” in the state unit.

After Azad took over, the sources said, Kishor has been told in clear terms that he should “devote all his energy and resources” on devising a “winnable” campaign strategy and leave “organisational matters to party functionaries only”.