Karnataka assembly poll 2023 results: Backroom duo drove Congress campaign with mindstickers

While local issues were at the core of the Congress campaign, the backroom boys gave the party an edge.
Poll strategist and consultant Sunil Kanugolu and All India Congress Committee war room in-charge Sasikanth Senthil drove the Congress campaign that, for the first time in years, swayed public opinion in its favour.
While former IAS officer Senthil, 44, managed the party coordination and handled online and offline social media campaigns with a 40-member team, Kanugolu and his group of around 50 members under the Mindshare logo provided creative inputs to ensure the campaigns were mindstickers for Kannadigas.
The 'PayCM' campaign is an example of the extremely impressive coordination between the duo. "After taking charge of the war room eight months ago, we devised narratives to target the BJP. While corruption was the biggest issue, we got a boost from a civil contractor's complaint in which he alleged a 40% commission for all government works. Kanugolu came up with an idea to drive home the point," said Senthil.
The duo ran campaigns, including 'Nimma Hathra Uthra Idiya?' (Uthra Kodi), which targeted the BJP's failure to fulfil promises of its 2018 manifesto, and 'Kivi Mele Huva' which mocked the BJP's budgetary promises.
"... any campaign needs complete support from the leadership. From Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala to KPCC president DK Shivakumar and CLP leader Siddaramaiah, the top leadership appreciated our efforts," said Senthil.
Meanwhile, Kanugolu is invested in the future of the Congress and is said to be aiming as high as his mentor Kishor, who is credited with managing the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first term.
The buzz now is the duo may well customise the Karnataka strategy for the next four state polls - Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana - where the Congress is trying hard to retain power in two and mount a challenge in the others.