NEW DELHI – Congress strategist Prashant Kishor is planning a second edition of Coffee with Capt as he plans to shift gears of Punjab Congress election campaign.
The new season of the initiative, which had four editions previously, will see 80 fresh sessions, this time with segments like farmers, women, traders, industrialists, teachers and NGO leaders.
Sources in Kishor’s India Political Action Committee (IPAC) today told The Tribune they were actively engaged in Punjab campaign of the Congress and reports about Kishor having differences with the party leadership were “rubbish”.
“We have assessed the impact of previous four editions of Coffee with Capt held at Amritsar, Ludhiana, Mohali and Patiala. The response was phenomenal. We now plan 80 more such sessions starting next week across the whole of Punjab. From June you can expect big bang campaigns to start,” a source in Kishor’s team said on a day when IPAC responded to speculation that Kishor and Congress were not on the same page on issues and the strategist was contemplating to quit.
“The question of quitting is nothing but wild soeculation. We are deeply honoured by the responsibility given to us by Congress and are totally committed to the job. We are grateful for the opportunity and the trust shown by the Congress, its leadership and each and every worker for their faith in us,” IPAC said.
In Punjab, Kishor has lined up a campaign strategy to strengthen the message of “Punjab da Capt” around the personality of Punjab Pradesh Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh, just back from his US visit.
Asked how “Coffee with Capt” will resonate among farmers, an IPAC source said, “This time we will have distinctive tag lines with the Coffee with Capt plank. These tag lines will vary depending on the audience we are targeting.”
At the political level, Kishor is in the process of appointing “Area Representative Captains” in each of Punjab’s 117 assembly segments to man booth work for the Congress. “Each segment will have five area resource captains. These will be people willing to work for the Congress and Captain till the 2017 assembly polls,” said sources close to Kishor.
