Election strategist Prashant Kishor has declined Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s offer to join the party as part of the Empowered Action Group (EAG) for the 2024 general elections, the Congress party announced on Twitter on Tuesday.
The announcement came a day after the Congress chief had announced the setting up of the EAG to deal with the political challenges in the run up to the next Lok Sabha polls.
Moments later, Mr Kishor tweeted to say that he had declined to take responsibility for elections and pointed out that, “The party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms”.
Regional rancour
Though neither side publicly put out the reasons for the breakdown, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala’s tweet that the invitation to Mr Kishor to join the party with ‘defined responsibility’ was suggestive. On Monday, The Hindu had reported that there was resentment among senior leaders about his association with other regional players and wanted Ms. Gandhi to define his “exact role and limits”.
On the other hand, sources close to Mr. Kishor, had told this newspaper that he had made it clear to the Congresss that he would join the party only if he was given a “free hand” to implement his plans of being a disruptor.
“I declined the generous offer of #Congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms,” Mr. Kishor tweeted.
The very public negotiations between the Congress party and the poll strategist that went on for months fell through just days after Mr Kishor’s firm, Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) had signed up with Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Sunday to manage the party’s campaign for the Assembly elections.
While the Telangana unit of the Congress, the principal Opposition in the State, was vocal in its protest, several senior leaders wanted clarity on Mr Kishor’s association with I-PAC and other regional players.
“Following a presentation & discussions with Sh. Prashant Kishor, Congress President has constituted an Empowered Action Group 2024 & invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts & suggestion given to party,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted, a day after the Congress had announced the setting up of the empowered group.
Surfeit of suggestions
Over the past 10 days, the poll strategist had made several detailed presentations on reviving the Congress at Ms Gandhi’s residence that were attended by senior leaders. Following these presentations, the Congress had set up an eight member panel to examine these problems. While a majority of the committee members agreed that the several points in the revival plan were implementable, the panel was divided on Mr Kishor being given a key position.
Ms Vadra and Ms Soni were said to be in favour of a key role while veteran leaders Digvijaya Singh, Jairam Ramesh, K.C. Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Surjewala were among those who had reservations. The latter didn’t want the creation of any new architecture and structure that was outside the party constitution, said a source.
The poll strategist’s equation with the Congress has seen several flip-flops over the past one year — from reports that he would join the party on October 2 last year to being blamed for engineering the switchover of senior leaders like Mukul Sangma (Meghalaya) and Luizinho Faleiro (Goa) to the Trinamool Congress, with whom Mr Kishor is working for a couple of years.
And the twist in the tale came in a tweet from former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. Hours after the public parting of ways with the Congress, Mr Sidhu shared a selfie with Mr. Kishor, saying: “Had a wonderful meeting with my old friend PK … Old wine , Old gold and Old friends still the best !!!”.
