Poll strategist Prashant Kishor meets Sharad Pawar

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Monday met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, their second meeting this month amid heightened speculation about the possible formation of a Third Front to take on the BJP.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar is working to unite all opposition leaders, party spokesperson Nawab Malik said while commenting on a meeting of Pawar with political strategist Prashant Kishor in New Delhi on Monday.

The closed-door discussions between Kishor and Pawar at the latter’s residence lasted for about one-and-a-half hours, sources said.

The meeting comes a day before the NCP’s general body meeting scheduled to be held at Pawar’s residence.

Also read: Wider alliance of anti-BJP parties necessary: NCP leader Nawab Malik after Pawar-Kishor meet

When asked about it, Malik said, "Pawar is working to unite all opposition leaders. Maybe, the meeting was to discuss it. The party's national executive meeting is also taking place in the national capital tomorrow."

Kishor, who was instrumental in the Trinamool Congress' victory in the recent West Bengal Assembly elections, had also met Pawar on June 11, fuelling the talk of opposition parties coming together against the BJP.

According to sources, former finance minister and now a TMC leader Yashwant Sinha, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh are also expected to call on Pawar on Tuesday.

Kishor, who had been part of the BJP's 2014 Lok Sabha campaign, later became a poll strategist for several non-NDA parties.

He had handled the poll strategy of the TMC in the West Bengal Assembly polls and for the DMK in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections this year. He had also been a poll strategist for the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alliance in the 2015 Bihar assembly polls.

The NCP currently shares power with the Shiv Sena and Congress in Maharashtra.

Kishor had helped craft the election strategy for the DMK and the TMC in the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, respectively. After these two parties emerged victorious in the polls held earlier this year, the election strategist had said he was "quitting this space".