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'On temporary break': Prashant Kishor asks Punjab CM to relieve him as advisor
Prashant Kishor asked the Punjab chief minister to relieve him from his responsibilities as the principal advisor, in view of the poll strategist's decision to take a temporary break from an active role in public life.
Political strategist Prashant Kishor on Thursday said that he needed a 'temporary' break from an active role in public life. To this end, Kishor has informed Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh in a letter that he will not be able to take over as the latter's principal advisor.
"In view of my decision to take a temporary break from an active role in public life, I have not been able to take over the responsibilities as your Principal Advisor," the poll strategist wrote in a letter addressed to the Punjab chief minister. "I request you to kindly relieve me from this responsibility."
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Kishor, however, said that he is yet to decide on his future course of action. In his letter, the political strategist also thanked Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh for considering him for the position of principal advisor.
Prashant Kishor was appointed by Amarinder Singh as his principal advisor back in March this year. The chief minister's office (CMO) had even accorded Kishor "the rank and status of a cabinet minister" and was prepared to provide him government job benefits including an official residence, free-of-cost transport, telephone facilities, and the like.
It was speculated that Kishor was behind the reconciliation in Punjab between warring factions of the party and also that he was supposedly chalking up the plans for a united opposition front in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
After achieving a resounding victory over the BJP in the recent assembly elections, the TMC, in June, renewed its contract with the Indian Political Action Committee, or I-PAC, the company launched by Kishor, till the next Lok Sabha polls.
Kishor, however, declared that he had quit I-PAC and that his team would function on its own. Soon, Kishor was seen meeting leaders in different states.
The states which are slated for assembly polls in 2022 are Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Gujarat.
