File photo of Mamata Banerjee and Prashant Kishor (R)

NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee , who faced massive reverses in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, has roped in political strategist Prashant Kishor for the assembly elections in the state due in 2021, according to sources.

Prashant Kishor will officially start working with Mamata Banerjee after one month, news agency ANI said quoting sources. Mamata Banerjee and Prashant Kishor had a two-hour meeting today.

The Trinamool Congress managed to win only 22 Lok Sabha seats, down from the 34 that the party had bagged in the last Lok Sabha elections. The BJP, on the other hand, made significant gains in the state, winning 18 Lok Sabha seats, 16 more than what it had won last time.

The BJP has already occupied the space of the main opposition party in the state displacing the Left and the Congress. The party now poses a very strong challenge to Mamata's Trinamool Congress.

Prashant Kishor was recently credited with scripting Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's spectacular victory in Andhra Pradesh where his party YSRCP bagged 151 out of 175 Assembly seats. In 2015, Kishore was also said to have played a role in bringing Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and JD(U) under the banner of Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in the 2015 Bihar assembly polls.

Kishor had joined active politics last year in September when he was made a vice president of JD(U) by party chief Nitish Kumar.

(With inputs from agencies)



In Video: Political strategist Prashant Kishor may work for Mamata Banerjee: Sources