Amarinder Singh's meeting with Prashant Kishor raises eyebrows within Congress

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh met poll strategist Prashant Kishor in Delhi, a day after his meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh's meeting with poll strategist Prashant Kishor at his official residence, Kapurthala House in Delhi, has raised eyebrows within Congress party circles.Amarinder Singh met Prashant Kishor before returning to Chandigarh. Sources, however, have told India Today TV that the meeting between the two has not gone down well with a section of party leaders who see Kishor with suspicion.After meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, Amarinder Singh had announced that any decision by her to address the crisis in the party’s Punjab unit involving party leader Navjot Singh Sidhu would be acceptable.But his meeting with poll strategist Prashant Kishor, appointed principal advisor to the Punjab Chief Minister in March, has raised questions.The meeting is significant as it follows the West Bengal poll verdict and Prashant Kishor’s claim of quitting poll management. Reports say Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) has begun collecting data for conducting surveys and related groundwork to prepare for the Punjab poll campaign due to begin by the end of 2020.A group of leaders close to the Gandhi family dislikes Prashant Kishor for working with breakaway leaders from the Congress Party like Jagan Mohan Reddy, Mamata Banerjee, and, most recently, Sharad Pawar who formed splinter groups. They also accuse the poll strategist of creating friction with its ally DMK during seat distribution talks ahead of the Tamil Nadu assembly election concluded recently.The leaders blame Kishor for advising DMK leader MK Stalin against giving a larger chunk of seats to the Congress Party. The Congress Party had to settle for just 25 seats against 39 demanded by it in the state.Earlier, in an interview to India Today TV, Congress data cell chief Praveen Chakraborty had cautioned against outsourcing core poll-decision making to poll strategists like Prashant Kishor. Also read: Callers impersonate Prashant Kishor, provoke leaders against Punjab CM Amarinder Singh