Since 2014 monitoring the campaign of BJP’s Prime Minister candidate Narendra Modi to last year’s TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s poll strategist Prasant Kishor succeeded in maintain an impressive `record of success’. The winning of Capt. Amarinder Singh of Punjab in 2017, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy of Andhra Pradesh in 2019 and M K Stalin of Tamil Nadu in 2021, besides few others helped him to maintain `high profile’ poll strategist
It helped him to create an impression among several political parties that associating with him will ensure success in polls. He also succeeded in hiding his failures like Congress in 2017 UP polls and Bihar polls in 2020. He himself announced that he will be contesting in Bihar polls, but learning there was no space for him, he intelligently kept out from the race.
Taking advantage from high-profile winning of Mamata Banarjee, last year in West Bengal, he tried to emerge as key player in national politics. First try to project Sharad Pawar as Presidential candidate and project Mamata to lead non-BJP front. Later attempted to join Congress, insisting a key role as Sonia Gandhi’s `political advisor’, which was earlier served by Ahmed Patel for a long period. But when the Congress was declined for his terms, he kept out.
Now, Goa polls turned to be acid test, not only for his image, but also for his own survival. It may be recalled that TMC entered into polls in a big way, only depending upon his inputs and poll strategies. Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee , who is holding party’s fort there is entirely depending upon Prasanth.
Keeping heavy trust on his poll abilities, the TMC has invested heavily in Goa. Its giant hoardings far outnumber those of all other parties. But the hoardings simply carry a picture of Mamata Banaerjee, not even the candidates’ photos. These hoardings reveals that the party failed to identify itself with local people or leaders. It failed to put-up any `visable’ leader in the polls.
The former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, who was expected to lead the campaign, projecting as frontrunner for chief minister post, has avoided form contesting in the polls, after obtaining Rajya Sabha seat.
Kishor’s outfit I-PAC is in total charge of the TMC campaign. TMC Goa in-charge Mohua Moitra’s responsibilities are largely confined to interacting with the media. Though several politicians showed expected to further their political fortunes by joining this party, by the time of the polls, they are mostly remain silent after getting negative feedback from their constituencies.
Former Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco is now fighting as an Independent. Former MGP MLA Lavoo Mamledar is standing on a Congress ticket. A founding member of the Goa TMC, Yatish Naik, resigned after not getting a ticket. Prominent TMC supporters like literary personality Damodar Ghanekar, footballer Denzil Franco and tennis player Leander Paes unable to adjust with the party.
