Amid buzz of joining Congress, Prashant Kishor meets top party leaders including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi

Election strategist Prashant Kishor met with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, once again sparking speculation of him joining the party, as per multiple reports. Source told PTI that senior leaders Ambika Soni, Digvijaya Singh, Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge were also present.

Kishor had previously held parleys with the former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and the party’s national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. However, there had been no forward movement.

Top Congress leaders on Saturday met at the residence of party president Sonia Gandhi and it is learned that they will be discussing the current political situation. Sources said the Congress leaders are also discussing the party’s strategy for upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and holding the party’s ‘Chintan Shivir’ in Rajasthan.

The brainstorming session is to be held later this month to work out the Congress’ strategy to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots level and suggest changes in the party.

Those attending the meeting include former party chief Rahul Gandhi, senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge, K C Venugopal, Ambika Soni, Ajay Maken and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Congress leaders Ambika Soni, Digvijaya Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken arrive at the residence of party chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.

Rahul Gandhi and KC Venugopal are also present at her residence. pic.twitter.com/I2CVyBdCly

— ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2022

After the recent poll debacle in five states, Congress is seeking to restart negotiations with Kishor. The results of five Assembly polls came as a shock to Congress which was hoping to do well to revive its prospects for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and to fend off the emerging challenge from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress to replace it as the fulcrum of anti-BJP politics in the country.

“PK (Prashant Kishor) can be seen taking an advisory role instead of joining Congress. Talks between Prashant Kishor and the Gandhis had collapsed after Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal victory in the state Assembly elections for which he was a strategist,” said a senior Congress functionary.

In 2021, there was non-stop buzz that election strategist Kishor would be joining the Congress on an official basis. According to multiple reports, Kishor had, in May 2021—after the results of the West Bengal assembly elections were announced—sent feelers out on working for the party, not in the capacity of a political consultant, but as a member of the party. Kishor had, after his successful stints in the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu elections, declared that he wanted to quit the election consultancy space and do something else in life.

Talks between Kishor and the Gandhis had collapsed last year, weeks after Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal victory — in which the strategist played a big role. The Congress later signed up with a former associate of Kishor to handle its election campaigns.

According to reports, the party is roping in Prashant Kishor in its big plan for the Gujarat Assembly election which is slated to be held in December. Kishor is part of the plan for projecting industrialist, Naresh Patel, chairman of the Shree Khodaldham Trust, as the chief ministerial candidate. While Kishor had, in the past, denied reports that he may join the party, a section of the leaders insist that it is not a closed chapter.

On the contrary, Kishor had last year hit out at the Congress arguing that its leadership of the Opposition is not the “divine right of an individual, especially when the party has lost more than 90 per cent elections in the last 10 years”. Let the Opposition leadership be decided “democratically”, he had said.

However, despite Kishor’s sharp, public digs at the Congress, especially Rahul Gandhi, in the months after the breakdown, both sides have showed willingness for another shot at an understanding after the party’s latest election defeats. The communication “never stopped”, sources told NDTV .

Just a day after the BJP’s emphatic win in the Assembly elections in four states, the poll strategist had said the results will not have any bearing on the next Lok Sabha elections, as the “battle for India would be fought and decided in 2024 and not in any state elections.”

In the past, Prashant Kishor has worked with Congress for the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. He was credited with helping Congress and Captain Amarinder Singh win 77 out of 117 seats in the 2017 Punjab elections.

Kishor gained acclaim owing to the BJP’s landslide victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.

With inputs from agencies

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