Campaign manager Prashant Kishor Pandey, who unsuccessfully handled the Congress’ election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, is looking for similar opportunities with smaller regional parties, most of which are part of the “third front’ or the “fourth front”.
Sources close to the Indian People’s Action Committee (I-PAC), Pandey’s organisation, which handled the Congress’ campaigning in UP and Punjab during the recently held Assembly elections, said that their experience with the Congress was a “bad one”.
“There were lots of issues regarding the payment of fees; some part of it has still not been done. The ‘boss’ (Pandey) is very upset and they parted on a bitter note. The I-PAC is unlikely to cooperate with the Congress in the near future. We are now in touch with other regional parties that comprise the third and the fourth fronts. Elections are due in Gujarat and we are hoping to work there and get good results,” a source aware of the development said. These sources said that even though I-PAC worked in Punjab and UP, it got a raw deal from Congress leaders.
“The win in Punjab was attributed to Amaridner Singh. However, it was we who prepared the ground report and gave the same to Amarinder and his team. After the initial days, Amarinder virtually cut us off from the campaigning. In UP, we were always on the backfoot and the same was communicated to Rahulji (Rahul Gandhi). In UP too, after the initial days, the Congress leaders acted independently, refusing to take or act on our advice. The Congress cadre and leaders on the ground, unlike the JDU or the BJP, refused to pay heed to their leader (Rahul), despite being fully aware that it was Rahul who had engaged us. There was very little we could do in these circumstances,” the source added.