Sonia steps in, calls old guard, Prashant Kishor to plan Congress revival

Kishor made a detailed presentation at Sonia’s 10, Janpath residence — Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too were present — after which the party president decided to set up a panel to look into his proposals.

Kishor is said to be eager to work with the Congress. The party recently brought in one of his former colleagues as a strategist for Karnataka. Sources said the leaders asked Kishor to join the party formally — this would prevent him from working with other parties as a poll consultant, a major concern for a section of the leadership.

Sources said Kishor was open to the idea of joining the Congress — in the past, he consistently denied any such plan.

The meeting gave two messages: Sonia, who had taken a back seat and was planning to relinquish charge once again this August-September, wants to put in place a mechanism to try and revive the party’s fortunes; and, the Congress has finally accepted that it needs external help to find its feet again.

Some of the leaders said Kishor told the meeting he was ready to join the Congress without expectations and demands but wanted his road map implemented to help strengthen the party at the grassroots level.

Sources said he wants the Congress to concentrate on some 370 Lok Sabha constituencies, nuance its political messaging, revamp its communication apparatus and address certain organisational weaknesses. Apart from the Gandhis, the meeting was attended by senior leaders A K Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijaya Singh, Ajay Maken, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, Ambika Soni and K C Venugopal. Barring Wasnik, none of the G-23 leaders were invited to the meeting.

Some of the Congress leaders said what Kishor said in his presentation were “known facts” but agreed that the party needed a focused approach. “With graphs and all, he was telling us about where we have lost our votes… how we deteriorated over the years… region specific and state specific,” one leader said.

Others were upset with the idea of bringing in Kishor. “A 137-year-old party of Gandhi, Nehru and Patel has been outsourced. This is the biggest insult that you can heap upon yourself, showing that you are incompetent and disliked by the people so you have to bring in somebody who purely works for money,” one leader remarked.

The G-23 leaders were annoyed that none of them, barring Wasnik, had been called to the meeting. “So, all those gestures of reconciliation and promises of inclusive and collective thinking were a sham. It exposes the hypocrisy of the leadership. This (involvement of Kishor) may further deepen the divide and only time will tell whether it will be helpful or totally counter-productive,” a leader said.

Venugopal said a decision on Kishor’s suggestions, including on whether he will join the party, will be known in a week. “Prashant Kishor has made a detailed presentation for the 2024 election strategy. It needs some detailed discussion and the Congress president will set up a small group to discuss this entire presentation. That group will submit a report within a week’s time for a final decision,” he said.

Asked whether Kishor will join the party or will be its strategist, he said all details will be known within a week.

Kishor suggested that the party should contest alone in a few states where it is strong and has remained either in the first or second position in previous elections.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of feverish talk in the party – and much opposition too – on bringing in Kishor for election strategising. He has had many meetings with Rahul and Priyanka but the decision by Sonia to invite him for a presentation before the group of senior leaders signals that the party is serious about working with him.

A section of the party wants him for the Gujarat campaign but he is said to be insisting on the induction of Naresh Patel, chairman of the Shree Khodaldham Trust which manages the temple of Goddess Khodiyar, the patron deity of the Leuva Patel community, near Rajkot. But Saturday’s meeting indicates that the party wants him to play a role beyond Gujarat. Some party leaders claim Kishor wants Patel to be projected as the party face in the Gujarat Assembly elections.

Kishor has had a volatile relationship with the Congress. In the middle of last year, he met the Gandhis with a proposal for revival of the Congress but many of the senior leaders were not warm to the idea of handing him the charge of strategising.

In December, he hit out at the Congress, arguing that its leadership of the Opposition is not the “divine right of an individual, especially when the party has lost more than 90 per cent elections in the last 10 years”. Let Opposition leadership, he had said, be decided “democratically.”