Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has retained the services of Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) till the next assembly elections in 2026.
According to sources, Kishor’s organisation will continue with the same set-up as before, office and their field presence included. This comes a month after the political strategist had claimed to “quit” as the ‘backroom boss’ or the election manager who led several parties to victory.
The professional political strategist was earlier reported to be planning to quit the Mamata establishment. Recently, he was in Mumbai holding talks with NCP leader Sharad Pawar for exploratory talks on a non-Congress, non-BJP national alternative.
The recent Bengal elections had been the toughest test for Kishor with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaving no stone unturned to grab power in the eastern state. Several top TMC leaders and known faces of the Bengal cinema were seen making the saffron brigade stronger with their entry.
The political strategist was also the architect of the first successful anti-BJP mahagathbandhan — in Bihar — in 2015. Besides, he has been instrumental in bringing Jagan Mohan Reddy to power in Andhra Pradesh, MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu and Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi.
With inputs from News18