This time even Prashant Kishore could not help the Congress

This time it went wrong. For the master poll strategist, Prashant Kishore, it was a fall from grace as the Congress was drubbed in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. He had suggested to the Congress to enter into an alliance with the Samajwadi Party and fight the elections under Akhilesh Yadav. It backfired and the BJP trounced everyone in Uttar Pradesh.

Kishore have a very successful outing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 and Nitish Kumar during the Bihar elections., However the outing with the Congress was nothing short of a nightmare. The Congress lost badly in Uttar Pradesh and just managed a bare 7 seats. The Congress in fact lost out badly in Rae Bareli and Amethi which are considered to be its strongholds or family bastions.

For Kishore the outing with the Congress went wrong from the word go. He had suggested that Rahul Gandhi be made the CM candidate in UP. However the Congress refused to bite that idea. He had even said that Priyanka Gandhi lead the campaign, but the Congress refused to take that idea as well.

The other problems that Kishore faced was the complaints from some UP Congress members who accused him of being dictatorial in his approach. Further there were problems with Raj Babbar, the Congress chief in UP. He had favoured a grand alliance in UP, but the Congress was against any alliance of this nature.

In Punjab too Kishore had his own share of problems. Captain Amarinder Singh had problems with Kishore and kept him at an arm's length. Although the Congress did score a resounding victory in Punjab, it would only be fair not to credit Kishore with the win, but grant it to the Captain.

OneIndia News