Buzz in UP as Mulayam Singh Yadav, Prashant Kishor meet for 3rd time

Speculation about electoral strategist Prashant Kishor quitting his Congress assignment gained ground on Sunday when Mr Kishor had another meeting with Samajwadi supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in Lucknow. The meeting lasted more than six hours but neither SP nor Congress leaders were ready to speak about the matter. State SP chief Shivpal Yadav told reporters that he would speak only when “something materialises”.

This is the third time that Mr Kishor has met the top SP leaders. He first met Mulayam Singh Yadav with Amar Singh in New Delhi on November 1, and then a short meeting followed at a local five-star hotel in Lucknow on Saturday.

Sources claimed that Prashant Kishor was helping the Samajwadi Party sew up a grand alliance on the lines of Bihar but JD(U) president and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has not shown any interest in such an alliance with the SP in UP — specially after the way Mulayam Singh Yadav had walked out of the grand alliance in Bihar at the last minute.

Meanwhile, sources in the Congress said sections of the party leadership were upset at the manner in which Mr Kishor was “hobnobbing” with the SP leaders.

UPCC president Raj Babbar has already said he was not aware of any move regarding an alliance with the SP and that Mr Kishor’s meetings with the SP supremo were “personal”.

A senior Congress leader said Mr Kishor and his team had ruffled too many feathers in the Congress with their style of functioning and the party high command was also upset as Mr Kishor was giving the impression that he was “controlling” the party.

“His new friendship with SP could be an excuse to snap ties with the Congress. How else does one explain his meetings with a party that is our rival in the coming elections ” a senior leader asked.