It’s a decisive Monday for Prashant Kishor as the election strategist, credited with turning around the political fortunes of many, waits for the Congress to decide whether it will accept his proposal to spruce up the Grand Old Party in the run-up to the 2024 elections.
The Congress top brass — including members of the seven-member committee that submitted a report to Sonia Gandhi on Kishor’s proposal — has gathered at 10, Janpath, the official residence of the Congress chief. The committee is headed by former Union minister P Chidambaram and senior leaders KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik, Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh, Digvijaya Singh and Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and senior leader AK Antony have also reached 10, Janpath.
Earlier, Kishor held three meetings with the Congress leadership during which he discussed in detail his plan to breathe new life into the party which is bogged down by poll debacles, infighting and the BJP behemoth.
While the Congress has been mulling bringing Kishor on board, a section of veterans is thinking twice about his entry, given his association with several political outfits that are pitted against the Congress.
To add fuel to fire, Kishor’s two-day stay with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s contract with I-PAC for the 2023 state polls has rattled leaders.
Though Kishor has officially called off his association with IPAC, he is reportedly in the know about all the decisions of the organisation which he earlier led.
Rao’s party is in direct contest with the Congress in the Telangana assembly polls and hence, the special committee formed to study Kishor’s roadmap, wants him to end his ties with other political parties.
Even the dissident group in the party, popularly known as G23, is not too impressed with Kishor’s induction as they say the leadership is overlooking and ignoring in-house talent and relying on somebody who is not loyal to the party and is a professional consultant. They say all that Kishor, known as PK in political circles, is telling the Congress leadership has been raised by the group in their letter to Sonia Gandhi and in subsequent meetings.
Kishor, meanwhile, wants the Congress to ally with regional satraps such as Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and KCR. Sources have told CNN-News18 that the strategist has asked the party to target 370-400 seats for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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