PRASHANT IN TOW, AMARINDER FIGHTS ‘INACCESSIBLE’ TAG
Facing criticism from party leaders on being “inaccessible” and working through a “coterie”, Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh reached out to party workers in a 20-day programme to cover all districts in the state.
Starting with Gurdaspur, he will address two such meetings at Amritsar on Wednesday organised by party’s urban and rural district committees. While his loyalist MLAs such as Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjit Singh were missing, his close aides such as Major Amardeep were not seen on stage.
And the man quietly working behind the scenes on the image makeover is his poll strategist Prashant Kishor.
Though he said, “I am no one” to his role in the party, he did point towards the public meeting to ask, “Do you see any change? Do you see any of those who would normally have been there?” He took no names nor made any references.
Admitting that Captain inaccessibility to workers was a problem, Prashant said the PPCC chief will tour the state in the next 20 days to meet party workers of each district.
Not present on the stage himself, two youths of Prashant’s team clad in blue jeans and black tees were at the rally venue, overseeing it and taking notes. On the crowd of over 6,000 people present to hear Amarinder, Prashant said, “Such rallies cannot win elections. You can easily manage large crowds. It is small meetings with workers that count.”