Prashant Kishor's 'Pawar' lunch triggers 2024 buzz

Mumbai: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor, with the Bengal win in his bag, is meeting Maharashtra politician Sharad Pawar for lunch in Mumbai. The meeting at the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief's home has fired buzz about his "Mission 2024" or the next national election.

Officially, it is a thanksgiving trip related to Bengal and Tamil Nadu election. Sources close to Prashant Kishor say he will meet every leader who extended support to Mamata Banerjee and MK Stalin, the big winners of the recent state elections. But there is strong speculation that the discussions have a larger context related to the 2024 election and talk of a joint Opposition candidate to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kishor had declared after the poll results that he was done and wanted to "quit this space". "I do not want to continue what I am doing. I have done enough. It is time for me to take a break and do something else in life. I want to quit this space," Kishor said. On whether he would rejoin politics after a brief and bitter stint with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, he said: "I am a failed politician. I have to go back and see what I have to do." But many believe he could go for a more political role.