Navjot Sidhu's meeting with Rahul Gandhi was reportedly facilitated by Priyanka Gandhi (File)
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Prashant Kishor, who has held a series of political meetings in the past few weeks, was seen arriving at Rahul Gandhi's home for the meeting. Sources said the Congress leader's sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra cancelled a meeting on Uttar Pradesh for talks with Mr Kishor.
The meeting takes place against the backdrop of efforts to broker peace between the Congress's top two in Punjab ahead of polls next year - Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his chief in-house critic Navjot Singh Sidhu. Both the Gandhis have met with Amarinder Singh and Navjot Sidhu separately in recent weeks.
In 2017, Mr Kishor was instrumental in bringing Mr Sidhu to the Congress just before the Punjab polls. Mr Sidhu, who quit as a BJP Rajya Sabha member, was believed to be vacillating between the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
But not long after the Congress won Punjab, powered by Mr Kishor's strategy, Amarinder Singh and Mr Sidhu fell out. Two years later, the cricketer-turned-politician quit the Punjab cabinet, feeling sidelined.
Mr Sidhu met with Priyanka Gandhi for four hours and tweeted a photo with her. Priyanka Gandhi reportedly facilitated his meeting with her brother, who had earlier told reporters he had no meeting with the sulking Punjab leader.
Days later, Amarinder Singh met with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and later told reporters: "I don't know anything about Sidhu saab. Whatever is the decision, whatever the Congress president wants, we will follow it."
But Mr Singh has reportedly been resistant to ideas that involve a massive upgrade for Mr Sidhu in the Punjab government and party. After the last meeting, Congress sources had talked about a formula in which Amarinder Singh would stay Chief Minister and the Punjab Congress would be revamped to accommodate Mr Sidhu.
Mr Sidhu has been telegraphing his feelings through a series of tweets. In the past two days, tellingly, his target has shifted from Amarinder Singh to the Congress's Punjab rivals AAP and Akali Dal. Today, his tweets on AAP were read as sarcasm by some but many saw a hint at his possible move to Arvind Kejriwal's party.
But sources said Mr Kishor's meeting with the Gandhis is not necessarily state-specific but part of a "bigger strategy". The strategist had earlier met with NCP chief Sharad Pawar amid speculation of a front to take on the BJP in 2024. Both have said that there can be no alliance against the BJP without the Congress.
This is Rahul Gandhi's first meeting with Mr Kishor since they collaborated in the Congress's failed campaign for the Uttar Pradesh election in 2017. The Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance flopped and the BJP came to power.
