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Prashant Kishor will join Congress 'in the coming days': Report
Following Kishor's detailed presentation to strategise Congress's 2024 election plan, the party made it clear that Kishor would be working with it in some capacity.
Political strategist Prashant Kishor, who at a high-level meeting with Sonia Gandhi presented a "detailed" election plan for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is expected to join the Congress “in the coming days”, said news agency ANI, citing sources, reported. The founder of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), in his presentation, reportedly also suggested the grand old party to focus on 370 seats alone for the 2024 elections.
“Prashant Kishor will be joining the Congress in the coming days but has not asked for any specific post in the party,” said sources told ANI. Hindustan Times could not independently get a confirmation on this.
The Congress earlier in the day made it clear that Kishor would be working with the party in some capacity ahead of the next general elections. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, when questioned on Kishor's role in the party, said that “every detail will be informed within a week's time”.
At the meeting, which is said to have lasted for four hours, Kishor reportedly said the Congress should focus on 370 seats and fight alone in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha to strengthen its base in these constituencies. He also suggested that the party should fight in alliance in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra.
ANI also reported that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi agreed to the points.
The meeting, chaired by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, was also attended by senior party leaders such as Ambika Soni, Digvijaya Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken, apart from Rahul and Venugopal.
Kishor had approached the Congress in early 2020 with a plan to help with its 2024 election campaign but that plan did not materialise over several disagreements. The poll strategist had also briefly joined the JD(U) but was expelled in January 2020 over his stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act.
After the catastrophic defeat of the Congress in the recently held assembly elections of the five states, Kishor had said the battle for India will be fought and decided in 2024.
Kishor, who has held several rounds of meetings with the top Congress leadership, is also learnt to have made suggestions on the upcoming assembly elections including the induction of Naresh Patel, a Patidar leader in Gujarat.
He had been roped in by the Trinamool Congress, the DMK and the Aam Aadmi Party in their assembly election campaigns. The Congress leaders also discussed the current political situation at the meeting, according to news agency PTI.
