Strategist ‘wants’ Congress govt to implement key poll promises

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 1

Political strategist Prashant Kishor wants Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government to fulfil nine key promises made ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections, before he comes on board to play another innings for the CM in 2022.

To project Captain Amarinder as the face of the party in the 2022 Assembly polls, Punjab Congress leaders have been in touch with Kishor for the past over six months to draft party’s campaign strategy, said a source in the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), the consultancy firm of Kishor.

The Chief Principal Secretary to the CM, along with some other key government functionaries, had met Kishor in Delhi about three months ago. Besides apprising him of the government’s achievements, they told Kishor that the process to fulfil remaining promises was going on. The Congress, which had come to power by bagging 77 seats in the 117-seat Assembly, had made several promises to the people. These included a job for every household, provision of unemployment allowance of Rs2,500 per month till jobs were provided, cheap food scheme, free smart phones to youth, five-marla plots or free houses to five lakh poor households, increase in pension for elderly people, widows and disabled persons to Rs1,500 per month and Rs51,000 grant for the Shagun scheme.

A government functionary the power tariff for industry had been brought to Rs5 per unit, the crop loans (up to Rs2 lakh) of all small and marginal farmers (up to 5 acres) had been waived and the drug menace had been controlled.