Prashant Kishor holds court for first time as Punjab CM's advisor; meets 37 MLAs on Day 1

Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh’s political strategist and principal advisor Prashant Kishor has begun his political activities in the state. Kishor, who is staying in the Chief Minister's official residence in Chandigarh, kickstarted his first meeting with first-time MLAs in the residence on Tuesday. Kishor will also take stock of the situation from each constituency before preparing a blueprint of Congress' poll campaign for the 2022 assembly elections in Punjab. 

The 37 first-time MLAs from the state have participated in meeting with Kishor. According to the information received, the meeting will remain underway for a couple of hours. Kishor will have a one-on-one interaction with each MLA to prepare his dossier for elections. In addition, he has also asked to table the report card of Captain Amarinder Singh's government for the last four years. However, Captain Amarinder Singh or any other senior party leader is not a part of this meeting. 

Congress is suffering from political crisis in Punjab as Navjot Singh Sidhu is not actively participating in politics. Beyond Sidhu, other legislators are also not happy with Captain Singh’s functioning, sources said. This has turned out to be a barricade for Kishor. Amarinder Singh has given him access to the Chief Minister's office as he was appointed as principal advisor. In addition, he also facilitated him with cabinet rank. 

Kishor's first meeting is very crucial before the elections. Though Captain has announced that he will contest in the upcoming assembly elections, earlier in 2017 he had announced during campaign that this will be his last election. Even so, Captain Amarinder Singh has taken a U-turn and announced that he will contest in the upcoming polls. 

On the other side, opposition parties have questioned Kishor's appointment and have stated that this is sheer wastage of public money. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal quoted Kishor as a man of false promises. Badal said that during 2017 elections, Kishor made several promises to Punjab but Captain Singh in his tenure failed to deliver.