A Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader on Friday alleged that by ‘leaving out’ Prashant Kishor, Enforcement Directorate (ED, during its raids on I-PAC, showed whose interests it was serving.
The leader was refering to the central agency conducting searches at the office of the political consultancy firm and the residence of its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata on Thursday.
“The ED complaints date back to 2020. Who was at the help of I-PAC then? It is Prashant Kishor. Then why is Pratik Jain being targeted by ED and not Kishor?,” Arup Chakraborty, TMC spokesperson said.
The ED action ignited high drama, with TMC supremeo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee unexpectedly storming into the sites during raids, alleging that the central agency was trying to seize her sensitive data ahead of the high-stakes state polls.
“The answer is simple. Jain is now helping TMC with its party strategy. And Kishor with its Jan Suraaj party in Bihar divided the opposition votes, which helped the BJP,” ‘The ED complaint refers to events that took place in Goa, when Kishor was leading I-PAC,’ Arup added.
Attention on PK and his I-PAC role
The ED raids on Jain, the co-founder of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), have brought in focus the political consultancy and once its most recognisable strategist, Prashant Kishor.
Is Prashant Kishor, one of the I-PAC co-founders who later shifted to mainstream politics, still associated with the firm? Well, after the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, Kishor is said to have exited the I-PAC.
But his name never existed in paper in I-PAC, according to former I-PAC associates. “He always worked as a consultant,” a former I-PAC member who did not want to be named told LiveMint from Guwahati.
I-PAC had emerged from Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), a poliical consultancy group that was formed by Kishor and others before 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Many members of CAG later formed separate political consultancies. I-PAC was one of them.
“Prashant Kishor’s name would be there on paper during CAG days. But he had no formal associations with I-PAC even before 2021,” the former I-PAC employee said.
He would charge money based on projects. “In some cases he would ask for 40 per cent while in others he would ask for 60 per cent of the amount that I-PAC raised through consultancy. Rest of the money would be distributed as salaries and other expenses,” he said.
Even after his exit in 2021, Prashant Kishor was in touch with the firm at least until 2023 when he hit the ground in Bihar in the run up to Jan Suraaj formation, according to another former I-PAC employee.
As thing stand today, three directors — Pratik Jain, Rishi Raj Singh and Vinesh Chandel – oversee the functioning of I-PAC.
What happened on Thursday?
The ED conducted searches at the I-PAC office and the residence of Jain in Kolkata. Banerjee who appeared at the site of the raids alleged that the central agency was trying to seize the TMC’s sensitive data ahead of the high-stakes state polls.
In a strong rebuttal, the ED, which maintained that the searches were part of a money laundering probe into an alleged multi-crore rupee coal pilferage scam , accused Banerjee of obstructing a lawful investigation and claimed that she and the state police forcibly removed “key evidence” during the raids.
The confrontation, which unfolded at a politically combustible moment, added sharp electoral overtones ahead of the elections to the 294-member West Bengal
Assembly, to be held in less than three months, as both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP were locked in an aggressive battle for narrative control.
The standoff also soon took a legal turn, with the ED moving the Calcutta High Court , seeking permission to file a petition, alleging interference in its investigation. The I-PAC also approached the HC, opposing the searches and questioning its legality.
I-PAC, apart from offering political consultancy to the TMC, also manages the party’s IT and media operations, making the search especially sensitive in the run-up to elections.
Prashant Kishor and Jan Suraaj
Kishor founded Jan Suraaj in October 2024. The Jan Suraaj Party made its electoral debut in the Bihar by-elections held on 13 November 2024, contesting four assembly constituencies and lost all four. The party had contested on 238 seats in the 2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections . It failed to win a single seat, registering a vote share percentage of 3.4 per cent
Since then, Prashant Kishor has largely been silent with uncertainty surrounding his future political involvement.
The answer is simple. Jain is now helping TMC with its party strategy.
While the TMC’s ties with Kishor have been fraught since his departure from I-PAC in 2021, the party had until now avoided publicly criticising him.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee referred to Kishor briefly in her speech on Friday at Hazra crossing “When Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, I-PAC worked for him. Back then, Prashant Kishor was there, Now Prashant is not there, Pratik oversees it, the CM said.
