Captain Amarinder brews coffee for voters ahead of Punjab elections

Chandigarh: Impressed by the huge success of Narendra Modi's Chai Pe Charcha during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Congress has come out with ‘Coffee with Captain’ theme for Punjab Assembly elections.

Once again the campaign is the brainchild of Prashant Kishor, the man behind the brilliant election strategy of Modi in 2014 and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in 2015.

Over 200 members of his election strategy firm I-PAC have already landed in Punjab to plan Congress' chief ministerial candidate Captain Amarinder Singh's poll campaign.

Punjab will elect a new Assembly sometime in February or March 2017.

Never before in the history of Congress, had the election campaign begun 10 months before the likely date. Moreover, bringing in an election strategist who is not part of the party is also something that the Congress has not experimented with before.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi who seems to have realised the importance of starting early and professional advice has roped in Prashant Kishor to assist his party's best bet Amarinder Singh.

Kishor has already launched "Coffee with Captain" in Chandigarh, Patiala, Ludhiana and Amritsar. According to an I-PAC member, in the next stage, it will be extended to all major cities and towns across the state.

Amarinder Singh has also given the responsibility of his entire campaign management to I-PAC. He meets I-PAC members on a daily basis for feedback.

I-PAC is planning to gather poll related data from all 117 Assembly seats in the state in the next two months. After that they study them and draw final strategy for the “do or die” poll battle. "It is Captain Amarinder Singh's last election. If he loses, it will be the end of Captain era in Punjab. We want to ensure his victory," says a confidante of Prashant Kishor.

I-PAC is treating both ruling the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party as Congress' rivals. Prashant Kishor believes that all opponents in the fray are equally important, says his confidante.

The campaign is also good news for coffee drinkers as it will go on for almost 10 months.