JOIN USDeputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and incumbent Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh is all set to shed his ‘Maharaja’ tag.
Captain bears the lineage as the descendent of the erstwhile royals of Patiala and is popularly addressed as ‘Maharaja Saab’ by many. But this royal image is in for a ‘downgrade’ of sorts ahead of elections in Punjab.
Party workers and leaders have been advised not to address Capt Singh as Maharaja, for it does not gel well with his popular image as a mass leader. The attempt is also to build a perception around the party’s front-most candidate as an accessible leader. The makeover of sorts for Singh is a part of the election strategy being devised by poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who in the past has devised similar strategies for Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The Maharaja tag has been replaced by the word Captain, it’s been summarised as ‘Punjab Da Captain’.
A change in the strategy is already showing the signs of popular connect for the Congress.
Instead of big rallies with focus on numbers as a show of strength, Singh is now engaging with smaller groups, like the youth in colleges and universities — many of who will act as ‘Capt’s ambassadors’ in the run-up to elections.
Perhaps inspired by Modi’s ‘Chai pe charcha’, in Punjab it’s already ‘Coffee with Captain’ that is altering the political gourmet menu. Interaction events of ‘Coffee with Captain’ have started and more is lined up.