New Delhi: Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh has snubbed political strategist Prashant Kishor saying he would not not have any role in deciding candidates for upcoming elections in the state.

In a significant statement issued on Monday, Singh said the tickets would be allocated by party president Sonia Gandhi and not by any strategist.

Ticket allotment is sole prerogative of Congress President. Party administration, management and implementation of the party programme and strategy has been and will always remain the sole prerogative of the Punjab PCC," Singh said.

The provocation for the statement is not immediately clear but party insiders said Singh has never been comfortable with the idea of Kishor playing a key role in his state politics even as a election strategist.

Referring to the application form issued by the party for ticket aspirants, he said, "It is not for the first time that party has asked for applications and the practice has been going on for a long time."

He added that this time there were some changes and additions made in the form, which is a normal routine as circumstances change from time to time.

Elaborating on the ticket distribution, Amarinder said, the PCC will screen the candidates and submit the list to the AICC, which will refer it to the Central Election Committee (CEC), headed by the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, which is the final authority.

Without naming Kishor, he also clarified that neither he nor the AICC has authorised any other agency for any process of screening or selecting the candidates.

Recently, Singh declared Kishor an outsider and of little use, only to retract the statement later.

The uneasiness of truce between Amarinder and Kishor can be seen from the fact that despite Kishor's full-fledged and well equipped set up across the road, Amarinder too hired a team which outlines his campaign strategy.

Kishor has also made it clear that if he has not given a free hand he would rather quit. For now he has full support of the Gandhis.

Kishor and his group, Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), came into limelight when he helped the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to an absolute majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. His style of micromanagement worked in Bihar next year when he guided Nitish Kumar to a win in the Assembly elections.

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