Sunil Kanugolu, Congress’ Karnataka poll strategist, named advisor to CM Siddaramaiah

Kanugolu has been working with the Congress party in the state since last year.

Sunil Kanugolu, the Congress poll strategist who is said to have played a significant role in the grand old party's stunning victory in the Karnataka assembly elections, was appointed Chief Advisor to chief minister Siddaramaiah with the rank of a cabinet minister on Wednesday.

Sunil Kanugolu with Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar.

Kanugolu has been working with the Congress in the state since last year.

Kanugolu was born in Karnataka's Ballari district, where he completed his middle school education. He has also lived in Chennai and Bengaluru.

Despite being originally a Telugu speaker, Kanugolu has roots in Karnataka and now resides in Bengaluru.

Kanugolu and politics

Kanugolu has worked for the BJP, DMK, and AIADMK in the past. He was also behind the aspects of Tamil pride and the Dravidian model during the 2017 Jallikattu protests, where he helped the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam counter BJP.

Sunil Kanugolu with Congress

After Prashant Kishor declined the Congress's offer to join the party last year, Kanugolu was brought on board to help with the party's election strategy for several assembly elections across India.

Last year in May, Kanugolu was appointed as a member of the Task Force 2024, a team created by the Congress to execute the Nav Sankalp (New Resolution) declaration adopted in Udaipur. Apart from Kanugolu, the team consisted of prominent Congress leaders such as P Chidambaram, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, K C Venugopal, Ajay Maken, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Randeep Singh Surjewala.

The poll-strategist has also been credited with planning Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, a march that covered a length of over 4,000 km from the southern tip of India to Jammu and Kashmir. The yatra was an instrumental move by the grand old party that led to recent turning points in election results.