Election strategist Prashant Kishor was reported to have told Sharad Pawar that its futile to form a 3rd or 4th front against BJP, the current ruling party. On Tuesday, June 22, Kishor was quoted by NDTV saying-
“I don’t believe a Third or Fourth Front could emerge as a successfully challenge to the current dispensation.”
Background
After contributing to the victory of the Trinamool party in West Bengal in the recent Assembly Elections, political chanakya and electoral strategist Prashant Kishor was reported to have taken multiple meetings with National Congress Party’s chief Sharad Pawar.
Earlier this week, NCP chief Pawar took meeting with number of opposition leaders at his house to discuss forming a third front against BJP. Prior to this, Pawar had called Kishor to his Mumbai residence for a lunch.
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Details
“I don’t believe a Third or Fourth Front could emerge as a successfully challenge to the current dispensation,”
Prashant Kishor said on June 22, ruling out any possibility of him being associated with a coalition to take on BJP in the future general election.
“No 3rd or 4th front can defeat Modi”: Kishor
Kishor further said-
“I don’t believe that any third or fourth front can defeat Narendra Modi so why would I be part of any such coalition. Just because 15 persons are meeting, you cannot call it a 15-party meeting.”
According to Kishor, in the past meetings, he and Pawar had multiple political discussions. The discussions were about going state by state to explore ideas on what may work in the opposition’s fight against BJP and what may not.
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Who is Prashant Kishor?
For the uninitiated, Prashant Kishor is an electoral strategist who helped TMC to register its dominating victory over BJP in West Bengal in the recent Assembly Elections. Prashant’s name was shot to fame after he aided the then Chief Minister of Gujarat – Narendra Modi – to get the Prime Minister’s chair.
In his interview to NDTV, Kishor said that the recent Mamata Banerjee victory sends a strong message to opposition party that “they too can stand up to the BJP and give them a contest.”
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The Recent Prashant-Pawar Meetings
Mr. Kishor’s statements came after rumblings were strong regarding NCP forming a third or fourth front with other opposition leaders and Kishor aiding the front. Kishor was also reported to have met Pawar in Mumbai earlier this month.
“I had lunch with him when I was in Mumbai recently and so today, he called me and asked me to come over for tea. It was just chit-chat and a routine meeting,”
he said. Kishor claimed that there is no question of him becoming Pawar’s client in the near future as he had already announced leaving the space of election strategy after the TMC victory.
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Sharad Pawar to Meet ‘Rashtra Manch’ Members
Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar is scheduled to meet with leaders of opposition parties (excluding the Indian National Congress). Pawar is reported to have called Rashtra Manch – a cross-party platform- at his residence in Delhi today.
NCP leader Nawab Malik was reported to have claimed that the meeting will see the likes of Yashwant Sinha, Pawan Verma, Sanjay Singh, D Raja, Farooq Abdullah, Justice A P Singh, Javed Akhtar, K T S Tulsi, Karan Thapar, Ashutosh, Adv. Majeed Memon, Vandana Chavan MP, S Y Qureshi former CEC, K C Singh, Sanjay Jha, Sudheendra Kulkarni, Colin Gonsalves, Arun Kumar Economist, Ghanshyam Tiwari and Pritish Nandi come together. The agenda of the meeting, as per Malik is to “discuss current scenario in our country”.
Pawar’s attempts to test the political waters come at a time when TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had publicly asked Pawar to form a federal front to take BJP on.
