Congress, Prashant Kishor now tussle over campaign funds

A sense of unease seems to have developed between the Congress and its strategist Prashant Kishor over the financial aspect of the party’s campaign. The cash-strapped Congress feels the money being spent on various public rallies and other events is not in consonance with the returns coming in.

Many state-level leaders of the Congress, ignored by Mr Kishor and his team, also feel that a “lot of wasteful expenditure” could have been avoided.

The trouble started when Mr Kishor was appointed party strategist. A parallel team to that of the existing state Congress committee was formed in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The money quoted was way above the funds being spent on the entire Congress organisational structure in both the states.

Mr Kishor’s team was earlier tasked of organising ‘Khat Sabhas’ — the expense on publicity campaigns was supposed to be borne by Mr Kishor — which were attended by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leaders.

However, sources said, most of the time the district Congress committees made the arrangement.

Mr Kishor was entrusted with keeping the Kisan Maang Patras. Many leaders claim the amount being considered is much more. When the bills were submitted to the All India Congress Committee (AICC), the party accounts department put some bills on hold. In Punjab also, a leader, requesting anonymity, said, “His (Mr Kishor) team wants to do its own publicity than that of the party — one can see, in many posters, the IPAC logo is more prominent than that of the Congress.” Senior district-level Congress leaders claim Mr Kishor’s team is ignoring them. New leaders are being propped up to work at the booth-level. They even fear tickets will also be decided by Mr Kishor, causing more unrest among ticket hopefuls.

The other issue worrying the Congress is Mr Kishor opening up channels of communication with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Reports claim he is in touch with other regional parties to manage their campaign. After about seven months of direct association with the Congress, there are reports, though highly exaggerated, that he may part ways with the party. However, at the moment, the only thing the Congress can expect is “good return” on its “investment”.