Jaitley's anger at poll strategists

Professional poll managers taking over the reins of strategising in political parties has caused career politicians much heartache. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave voice to this anger among his ilk, particularly the leadership in the Congress, saying the top party leadership ignores the wealth of their experience to turn to professional poll managers for deciding the contours of election campaigning. Addressing a discussion on political funding reforms, Jaitley said that any self-respecting political party or leader, who has put in two or three decades of work will find the idea of hiring managers repulsive. The Congress is taking the services of election strategist Prashant Kishor. In 2014, Jaitley’s own party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, had turned to Kishor for help with managing the Lok Sabha elections.