A day after poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s meeting with top members of the Gandhi family, speculation is rife about him formally joining the Congress. This buzz gained momentum on Wednesday when a top source in the party confirmed to this paper that along with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi also participated in the meeting via video conference, though there was no confirmation from the Congress or by Kishor about the speculation. All the three Gandhis were part of the discussions with Prashant Kishor at Rahul Gandhi’s official residence at Tughlak Lane in New Delhi on Tuesday. It was not the first time, according to sources. Kishor left after the meeting and avoided the media, leading to speculation about the agenda.
Sources indicated that the Gandhis and Kishor, during their talks, may have explored a formal role for the strategist in the party as it prepares for big elections ahead, state and national. Such speculation was triggered by a tweet of a Congress functionary Archana Dalmiya who is considered close to the Gandhi family. “A warm welcome into the Congress family,” Archana tweeted. Though the tweet was deleted minutes after, the tweet by the chairperson of the grievances cell of the Congress set the political circles abuzz about the entry of Kishor in the party.
Kishor’s meeting with the Gandhi’s, sources asserted, was not about the Punjab or Uttar Pradesh polls as was widely speculated, but about “something bigger”—a sign that Kishor might be looking at a significant role in getting the Congress ready for the 2024 election fight.
AICC in-charge of Punjab Harish Rawat, while answering the question related to Kishor’s visit, said that Rahul Gandhi is a national leader and many people come to meet him. “It would not be correct to say that PK had come to discuss Punjab. If there was talk on Punjab, I would have been included too,” said Rawat.
Then, there was also buzz in the political circles that Kishor is lobbying to get NCP leader Sharad Pawar elected as the next President of India. Kishor had met Pawar last month. Sources said that in Kishor’s calculation, the electoral college for the presidential election would become favourable for an Opposition candidate if Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik joins hands with the non-NDA parties. Sources also said that Kishor recently met Naveen Patnaik and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
Prashant Kishor had earlier worked with the Congress in Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in 2017. He has already been appointed as chief advisor by the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh for the upcoming Assembly elections in 2022. Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are among five states slated to go to the polls early next year. Kishor has been credited to have contributed in the landslide victory of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the bitterly fought recent West Bengal Assembly election. Soon after the massive victory of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Kishor had told a media organization that he is likely to quit the consultancy space.
With agency inputs