Even though they agreed that they needed a new face and a new way of doing things for the upcoming general election, sources say that Congress didn’t want to give Prashant Kishor full control.
Keywords – Prashant Kishor, Congress, Elections
(Source – NDTV)
At a time when the Conservative Party appears unwilling to make significant changes, election strategist Prashant Kishor said “no” to Congress today.
Kishor turned down the opportunity to join the party’s “Empowered Action Group,” stating the need for leadership and “collective determination to tackle deep-rooted structural flaws” in Congress. But sources say that despite an internal agreement that they need a new face and a new plan for the upcoming general elections, they haven’t given him a free hand.
It was not long after Congress made its choice public that Kishor took to Twitter to express his displeasure with their invitation to become a member of their Election Advisory Group (EAG)
To repair the party’s deep-rooted structural difficulties, he said, “I believe that more than myself, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems via transformative changes.”
After a presentation and talks with Sh. Kishor, the President of the Congress established an Empowered Action Group 2024 and asked Sh. Prashant Kishor to join the party as a member of the group with specified responsibilities. He refused to participate. One of the party’s most important people tweeted about how much they appreciated him and the advice he gave to the party.
Kishor had made a second attempt to reach out to the Congress, which had previously rejected him. Recently, he has discussed his “Mission 2024” with Congress Party President, Sonia Gandhi, in several different situations. Following this, Sonia Gandhi and the party’s senior leaders had a set of private talks.
Some politicians didn’t like that Kishor was there because he had ties to people who were against them, like Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Some members of Sonia Gandhi’s special team, including Digvijay Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala, and Jairam Ramesh, were opposed to giving a newcomer a free hand.
During Friday’s meeting with Sonia Gandhi and her eight-member special team decided to explore the problem, however, Prashant Kishor did not seem fully on board, according to Congress officials. The statement was seen as hypocritical because he had already talked to Congress about the rebuilding.
Kishor was invited to join the “Empowered Action Group” to handle “political problems” before the 2024 elections. A day later, he was in Telangana, signing a deal with Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao.
Prashant Kishor’s big-bang adjustments did not sit well with many in Congress, sources said. Prashant’s plans for the party’s restoration reportedly included a leadership restructuring that excluded everyone saving mass leaders. Notably absent from the list is the party’s top decision-making body, the Working Committee.
Even though they agreed that they needed a new face and a new way of doing things for the upcoming general election, sources say that Congress didn’t want to give Prashant Kishor full control. The election strategy was also considered unexpected, which upset Congress party members. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Ambika Soni, both in favor of his entrance, seem to have lost. Sources state that Rahul Gandhi refused.
Despite this, the party has agreed that the party needs to change after losing more and more votes since 2014. This was even mentioned in a special committee report.
In the last assembly elections in five states, the party won just 55 seats out of 690. It won Punjab, but it lost Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur to the BJP. In 2017, it had a lot of support in these three places where the BJP was strong.
Next month, the party will attend a three-day meeting in Udaipur, Rajasthan, to plan for 2024.
Published by – Mohit Maurya
Edited by – Aakash Kanti Khuman
