Raghav Chadha said the Congress neither has a future nor can it give a future to Indians. “Anything multiplied to zero is zero,” he said.
Tag: Prashant Kishor
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‘Battle for India will be decided in 2024, not in any state poll’: Prashant Kishor’s jibe at Modi
By PTI
KOLKATA: A day after the BJP’s emphatic win in assembly elections in four states, poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Friday said the results will not have any bearing on the next Lok Sabha elections as the “battle for India would be fought and decided in 2024 and not in any state elections”.
Bulldozing a resurgent rainbow coalition led by the Samajwadi Party, the BJP on Thursday stormed back to power in Uttar Pradesh and also retained Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, while Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP scripted a stellar victory in Punjab, winning a three-fourth majority pulverising its rivals.
Kishor’s comment came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the next Lok Sabha polls, scheduled for 2024, saying he hopes that political pundits will note that his party’s win in the four states has also made clear the verdict for the next general elections as they had linked its win in 2019 to its sweep of the Uttar Pradesh polls in 2017.
“Battle for India will be fought and decided in 2024 & not in any state #elections Saheb knows this! Hence this clever attempt to create frenzy around state results to establish a decisive psychological advantage over opposition. Don’t fall or be part of this false narrative.” Kishor said on Twitter.
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2024 Lok Sabha polls: Amid efforts to unite non-BJP parties, KCR leaves for Delhi
By PTI
HYDERABAD: Against the backdrop of a recent meeting with political strategist Prashant Kishor and ongoing efforts to bring together different parties against the BJP’s alleged anti-people policies, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday left for Delhi.
Rao left for Delhi on a visit, an official release said.
However, it did not provide further details.
It is expected that Rao may confer with leaders of like-minded parties during his stay in the national capital.
Rao’s visit comes against the backdrop of a meeting here with Kishor during the last couple of days and also his recent meetings with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai.
Rao, who has been critical of the BJP and the Centre on a number of issues, had said he will hold meetings with his Maharashtra and West Bengal counterparts as part of efforts to unite various political parties against the BJP and the NDA government.
Addressing a public meeting in Siddipet district on February 23, Rao had said he is moving in the direction of influencing national politics and that he would use all his abilities to set the things right in the country, “even by shedding the last drop of blood”.
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Goa Trinamool chief claims Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC abandoned party candidates after polls
By PTI
PANAJI: Goa Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Kiran Kandolkar has claimed that their political consultant I-PAC abandoned the party candidates after the state Assembly polls held last week.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, Kandolkar also said he was not quitting as TMC’s Goa unit chief, but was upset with I-PAC head Prashant Kishor and his team.
There have been speculations since some time about a rift between the TMC and I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee), which had helped the Mamata Banerjee-led party during the West Bengal Assembly polls.
The TMC contested the Goa Assembly elections in alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
Polling was held on February 14 and the counting of votes will be done on March 10.
Kandolkar had contested the election from Aldona Assembly seat, while his wife Kavita contested from Thivim on TMC’s ticket.
He claimed that most of the TMC candidates in Goa felt they were abandoned by the I-PAC after the polls.
“All candidates fielded by the TMC have some or the other issues with the I-PAC. When the candidates told me about their issues with Prashant Kishor and his I-PAC team, I discussed the matter with my party workers, who advised me to quit as the TMC Goa president,” he said.
“I am not quitting as TMC Goa head, but I am upset with Prashant Kishor and the I-PAC team,” he said.
A meeting of all party candidates has been called on Tuesday to discuss the polling in their respective Assembly constituencies, he added.
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Mamata Banerjee to meet CMs of non-BJP ruled states next month to discuss threat to federalism
By Express News Service
KOLKATA: The second meeting of Trinamool Congress’s newly constituted national working committee is likely to be held in Delhi in presence of the party’s chairperson Mamata Banerjee. The date of the meeting is expected to be after March 10, after the announcement of Assembly election results in the five states.
“In the meeting, we may discuss our stance in national politics depending on the results of the Assembly polls in five states. The chief minister herself will chair the meeting and give us the future roadmap in the arena of national politics,’’ said a senior TMC leader.
The leader said the Bengal chief minister and the national working committee may meet the heads of the non-BJP ruled states in March over the issue of the country’s federal structure and overstepping of constitutional rights by governors in the non-BJP states.
Mamata recently communicated with Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin over the issue of constitutional overstepping and brazen misuse of power by governors.
On Friday, Mamata, in the first meeting of the national working committee at her Kalighat residence, reinstated her nephew as the party’s national general secretary inducting three others as vice-president. Earlier Mamata dissolved all posts of the party in the national-level hierarchy.
Former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha, Subrata Bakshi, and Chandrima Bhattacharya were selected as the vice-president. ‘’Induction of three others in the newly created vice-president post seems to be an attempt to clip Abhishek’s wings as the recent development in the party suggested growing distance between him and the party supremo,’’ said another TMC leader.
Sinha, Bakshi, and Chandrima are believed to be among those who are from Mamata’s close circle.
In the selection process of candidate lists for the upcoming municipal elections in 107 civic bodies scheduled to be held on February 27, Mamata turned down Abhishek’s idea of fielding new faces in the fray. Prashant Kishor’s team IPAC, which was hired on Abhishek’s suggestion, uploaded a candidate list in the party social media platform without Mamata’s approval and the party had to announce a fresh list of candidates.
There was a strong buzz doing the rounds that Abhishek expressed a desire to step down as his earlier post in the hierarchy and Mamata was in no mood to dissuade him.
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Goa Congress attacks TMC, Prashant Kishor’s IPAC
By PTI
PANAJI: The Goa Congress on Monday questioned the silence of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC on the BJP in the poll-bound coastal state and alleged that the latter’s agenda may be to help the ruling party.
Assembly polls in Goa are likely to be held in February next year and the Trinamool Congress as well as the Aam Aadmi Party are planning to contest, which may queer the pitch for the Congress against the BJP.
All India Congress Committee state desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao also alleged that IPAC, a poll consultancy firm mentored by strategist Prashant Kishor, may be “betraying” Banerjee in Goa.
“The agenda of the TMC is to help BJP. They want to weaken all other parties and are targeting the Congress. Why can’t they target the BJP? Who is giving them resources, where is the money coming from,” Rao questioned while talking to reporters in Quepem in South Goa.
“The people running the IPAC may have a different agenda. They may be even betraying Banerjee. I do not know whether Banerjee knows all this or not,” Rao claimed.
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Congress may rope in strategist Prashant Kishor for Punjab Assembly polls, indicates CM Channi
By PTI
CHANDIGARH: Political strategist Prashant Kishor may be roped in to develop the election campaign of the Congress for next year’s Assembly polls, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has indicated.
Channi, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and the incharge of the state affairs at the AICC, Harish Chaudhary, held a meeting of party MLAs and other senior leaders here Tuesday evening to discuss the strategy for the elections.
In a short video of the party meeting, Channi is heard saying that “Harish Chaudharyji was even advising to hire Prashant Kishor”.
Channi was also seen discussing recent decision of his government to reduce power tariff and how it had received positive response from people.
There is enthusiasm among people and the party workers, Channi said.
“As per suggestions from you all, power tariff was reduced. We still have a couple of months (before code of conduct comes into effect in view of polls) and I will ensure that whatever you suggest will be done,” he said.
Earlier this year, Kishor had resigned as former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s principal adviser.
Kishor is currently lobbying for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for the upcoming Goa Assembly elections.
Earlier, Kishor had crafted Amarinder Singh’s campaign in 2017 assembly polls.
The Congress had stormed to power with an overwhelming majority in the 2017 polls in Punjab.
Channi recently replaced Amarinder Singh as chief minister following the unceremonious exit of the veteran leader, who on Tuesday quit the Congress and announced the name of his own political outfit to contest the upcoming state polls.
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BJP won’t go anywhere for next many decades, says Prashant Kishor; takes swipe at Rahul Gandhi
By PTI
PANAJI: Political strategist Prashant Kishor, who is currently lobbying for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for the upcoming Goa Assembly elections, has said that the BJP will remain at the centre of Indian politics and will not go anywhere for the “next many decades”.
He also took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for thinking that people will throw away the BJP immediately.
A video clip of Kishor addressing a private meeting in Goa has gone viral.
A senior leader of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), a group led by Kishor, confirmed that the video was from a private meeting held on Wednesday in the state.
In the video, Kishor is heard saying, “BJP is going to be the centre of Indian polity. whether they win, whether they lose, like it was for the first 40 years for Congress, BJP is going nowhere.”
“Once you secure 30 per cent plus votes at the India-level, you are not going away in a hurry. So, do not ever get into this trap that people are getting angry and they will throw away (PM Narendra) Modi,” he added.
“Maybe, they will throw away Modi, but BJP is not going anywhere. They are going to be here, you have to fight it out for the next many decades. It’s not going in a hurry,” Kishor said.
Referring to Rahul Gandhi, he said, “That is where the problem lies with Rahul Gandhi. Probably, he thinks it’s just a matter of time that people will throw him (Modi) away. That’s not happening.”
Kishor had helped craft the election strategies for the TMC and the DMK in the Assembly polls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, respectively, held earlier this year.
These parties had emerged victorious in those states.
The TMC has announced that it would be contesting the Assembly elections in Goa due in February next year.
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to begin her three-day visit to Goa from this evening.
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No quick fix solutions to party’s deep-rooted problems: Prashant Kishor’s message for Congress
By PTI
NEW DELHI: In a message for the Congress, poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Friday said those looking for a quick revival of the grand old party-led opposition following the Lakhimpur Kheri incident are in for a big disappointment as there are no quick fix solutions to the “deep-rooted problems” of the party.
Kishor’s tweet comes in the backdrop of days of speculation that he was in talks with the Gandhi family and was set to join the Congress.
“People looking for a quick, spontaneous revival of GOP led opposition based on Lakhimpur Kheri incident are setting themselves up for a big disappointment,” Kishor said on his Twitter handle.
“Unfortunately there are no quick fix solutions to the deep-rooted problems and structural weakness of GOP,” he said.
Former Union minister and senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily had last month voiced strong support for Kishor’s induction into the Congress and said those opposing his entry into the party were “anti-reform”.
People looking for a quick, spontaneous revival of GOP led opposition based on #LakhimpurKheri incident are setting themselves up for a big disappoinment.Unfortunately there are no quick fix solutions to the deep-rooted problems and structural weakness of GOP.
— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) October 8, 2021
Though there has been speculation both within and outside the Congress over Kishor’s likely admission into the party, there has been no official word indicating his entry.Kishor’s tweet is being viewed by many as an indication that things may not be working out between him and the party leadership.
Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre’s three new farm laws was holding a demonstration against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by the angry protesters, while a local journalist was also killed in the violence.
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‘Process on’: Congress leader Veerappa Moily opens up about Prashant Kishor’s entry into party
By PTI
BENGALURU: Former Union Minister Veerappa Moily on Thursday welcomed the possible entry of election strategist Prashant Kishor into the Congress saying that he was okay even if he takes an important position.
“Prashant Kishor, an election strategist with 99 per cent success rate, has volunteered himself to cooperate with us. The process (of Kishor’s entry) is on,” Moily told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.
He dubbed the entry of Kishor and other internal reforms in the party as the resurgence of the Congress.
To a question whether he will be okay if he takes up a major role in the party, Moily said, “I am perfectly alright. I am constantly in touch with him.”
Regarding the sudden change of guard in Punjab, Moily said the party handled the situation very well.
He also hailed Captain Amarinder Singh, who stepped down as Chief Minister of Punjab paving way for Charanjit Singh Channi to take the reins of the state.