BIG: MK Stalin ropes in Prashant Kishor for DMK's poll campaign ahead of 2021 elections

Taking on yet another non-NDA ally, poll strategist and ex-JDU Vice president Prashant Kishor has been roped by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for its 2021 state assembly poll campaign. Taking to Twitter, DMK chief M K Stalin announced the joining of Kishor's firm I-PAC for their election campaign. Kishor has also recently been expelled from JD(U) and has said that he will announce his decision on February 11. 

DMK ropes in Kishor

JD(S) to rope in poll strategist Prashant Kishor to plan revival of party: Sources

Tamil Nadu elections

The  2021 Assembly polls are important for DMK as it cannot afford to lose a third straight Assembly election after sweeping the state in the Lok Sabha with 38 seats. Moreover, this will be the first polls after the demise of AIADMK chief Jayalalitha and DMK patron M K Karunanidhi - creating a power vacuum in the state. While superstars Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth are gearing to contest the elections (separately or combined), the elections will be a battle between incumbent AIADMK and Stalin- who is eyeing his Chief Ministerial debut.

BIG: Prashant Kishor roped in by Kejriwal for his re-election bid in 2020, against BJP

Kishor's other current poll campaigns

• West Bengal: After the emergence of BJP in West Bengal as the second-largest party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool Chief Mamata Banerjee met Kishor in June to talk about the West Bengal State polls in 2021. While Banerjee has refused to comment on roping in Kishor, sources have confirmed the Kishor's political advocacy group - Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) is working with Banerjee for her re-election bid. Trinamool recently trumped BJP in all 3 bypolls.

• Delhi: Kishor is currently teamed up with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his re-election campaign in 2020. With a social media campaign that has grabbed headlines with its witty quips, Kishor has helped to create Kejriwal's image based on AAP's work in the past five years. AAP faces  BJP, which has not held the Delhi Assembly since 1998 and not launched a CM candidate.

BIG: "It is an internal matter," says Trinamool Chief Mamata Banerjee on her meeting with political strategist Prashant Kishor 

• Karnataka: Failing to capture a single seat in Karnataka by-elections, sources reported that JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is planning to hold talks with election strategist Prashant Kishor to plan the revival of the party. During the 2018 Assembly elections, the JD(S) had bagged only 37 seats, after which it came to power in alliance with the Congress. But the coalition government fell as 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs resigned and joined BJP.

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Kishor's previous successful campaigns:

I-PAC had teamed up with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP's Assembly and Lok Sabha campaign in 2019, helping YSRCP win 151 seats in the state's 175 seats. In 2015, Kishor worked for the JD(U) when the party was a part of Mahagathbandhan in Bihar and led the grand alliance to their landslide victory in the assembly elections in Bihar. He also worked with Congress in the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls and as successful in electing Captain Amarinder Singh as CM, beating AAP by a wide margin.

He was also involved in Shiv Sena's 2019 state elections campaign, which resulted in the Sena bettering its strike rate by winning 56 of 124 seats. Prashant Kishor first hit headlines after helping then-CM Modi win the 2012 Gujarat assembly election and become chief minister for the third time beating anti-incumbency. He also was pivotal during Modi's first bid to become Prime Minister in 2014, awarding BJP its first absolute majority in the Centre.