Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena ropes in Prashant Kishor to strategise for Maharashtra assembly elections, Aaditya Thackeray to be pitched as 'new hope'

In a big political development, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has hired Janata Dal (United) leader and poll strategist Prashant Kishor in order to claim the title of big brother in Maharashtra ahead of the Assembly election in the state scheduled to take place later this year. 

As per input, Prashant Kishor has already begun the campaign strategy for Shiv Sena for the assembly elections. While the Uddhav Thackeray joined hands with BJP-led NDA during the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls, Prashant Kishor aims to reestablish Shiv Sena as the leading NDA ally, with the party looking forward to win more seats than BJP during the state assembly elections. 

Significantly, Prashant Kishor is likely to present Shiv Sena youth leader Aaditya Thackeray as the 'new hope' in Maharashtra just like YSRCP leader Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, earlier in July, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray met Congress parliamentary party leader and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi, sparking speculations over an alleged alliance ahead of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra. 

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Notably, Poll strategist Prashant Kishor has also joined Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool to strategise for the party during the assembly elections in West Bengal scheduled to be held in 2021. 

Kishor's team was an election strategist for YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh for the elections 2019, which helped Jagan Mohan Reddy in winning 151 seats out of 175 seats in the assembly elections in the state. In the past, Kishor has served as the chief strategist for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election campaign in 2014 Parliamentary polls, after which he started his own company called IPAC that engineered the poll campaign in Punjab for Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh. In 2015, Kishor worked for the JD(U) when the party was a part of Mahagathbandhan in Bihar and led the grand alliance to their landslide victory in the assembly elections in Bihar. 

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