On Tuesday, election strategist Prashant Kishor met with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to discuss the Congress’s revival plan, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
They went on to say that the meeting was a continuation of Kishor’s previous meetings with the Gandhis, beginning with one with president Sonia Gandhi last May and then with a number of other top Congress leaders on the same topic, and that it could even lead to the election strategist joining the party. The US Congress has made it clear that it will not comment on the matter.
According to the above-mentioned Congress leaders, Rahul Gandhi told Kishor he would be joining and doing this from within the organisation if interested in helping Congress win election. They further noted that Kishor’s plan included a complete review of the organisation of the 135-year-old party, including new political positions and a parliamentary body.
“Kishor has discussed multiple scenarios and since he has left the space of political consultancy, according to him, he may want to assume a more proactive role in politics,” a third person familiar with the matter said.
On Tuesday, Kishor spent almost an hour meeting with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, speculating wildly, ranging from reconciliation between the warring factions in the Punjab, a common opposition candidate for the presidential elections of 2022, to a single party in the Lok Sabha polls of 2024. Kishor has met senior leaders in all parties over the past few month and wishes to “spare a bigger role” in the organisation of a group, according to a fourth person who knows the matter.
One of Kishor’s proposals is for Rahul Gandhi to lead the new Parliamentary Council for the Congress. One of the main demands of the so-called Group of 23 – named after the number of senior leaders who wrote to Sonia Gandhi last year calling for a change – was to create the committee to examine its position on key issues.
The Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) political consulting group Kishor will also be actively involved in the party should Kishor join it, the public said. He also has access to a large pool of professionals with whom he has been involved since 2014 through several political campaigns. Kishor announced that he was stepping down I-PAC day by day, having helped the TMC keep Bengal and the DMK win, Tamil Nadu;
“On one hand it’s good that they may bring in someone from outside because within the Congress party the politics is too personalised…a trend that began during the Indira Gandhi regime and they are paying for it. I assume that they (Gandhis) will back him…It’s a positive step in one way to get someone from outside who is used to managerial roles… But at the same time, I also think it’s not entirely right to bring about corporate-like managerial style within the party…,” said political scientist Neera Chandhoke.
