New Delhi: The possibility of political strategist Prashant Kishor joining the Congress is now over as both parties Tuesday confirmed that Kishor has declined the offer of joining the grand old party.
Congress’ communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said that Kishor declined the invitation to join the party as a part of the ‘Empowered Action Group’ for 2024, created by Sonia Gandhi Monday, to “address political challenges” ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections.
Following a presentation & discussions with Sh. Prashant Kishor, Congress President has constituted a 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.
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 26, 2022
Kishor also took to Twitter to confirm that he has declined the “generous offer” from Congress.
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.
— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) April 26, 2022
“I declined the generous offer of the Congress to join the party as part of the EAG and 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”, Kishor said.
The Congress-PK Saga
Talks of Prashant Kishor seeking to join the Congress once again surfaced – after they fell through in June-July last year – as the strategist held repeated meetings with the Gandhi family and senior Congress leaders over the last few weeks.
He gave the party leadership a “roadmap” to revive the Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In his presentation, Kishor suggested many changes to the party’s organisational structure as well as its election and communications strategy. Some of Kishor’s suggestions reportedly included having a non-Gandhi as Congress president and strategic alliances with regional, anti-BJP, opposition parties.
Last weekend, it was also reported that Kishor was in Hyderabad, camping at the home of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), the chief of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). The TRS is in power in Telangana where the Congress is in opposition.
On Saturday night, Kishor’s political consultancy firm, the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), also signed a deal with the TRS for the next state elections due in 2023. However, Kishor has been saying since May 2021 that he is “not involved” with I-PAC.
Kishor’s liaison with TRS had not gone down well with the Telangana Congress and certain sections of the party, Congress sources said to ThePrint. His exact role in the Congress was also a point of contention between both sides, they added.
Also read: Prashant Kishor has a ‘4M’ plan for Congress to take on BJP in 2024. But it needs a Nadda