Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, April 26: The talks for the revival of the Congress going on with the poll strategist Prashant Kishor (PK) expectedly fell through in the face of stiff opposition from the old guards who were apprehensive of hanging on to their positions in the structural changes suggested by him.
Kishor on Tuesday said a firm “no” to the Congress offer to join the party as a member of the party’s “Empowered Action Group” as the party indicated that it was not ready for any sweeping change suggested by him to revamp the party’s organisational set up. Kishor declined the offer with pointed remarks about the Congress’s need for leadership and “collective will to fix deep rooted structural problems”. Sources indicated that the 137-year-old party had refused to give him a free hand, despite internally agreeing that they need a fresh face and transformational strategy for the next general elections.
“I declined the generous offer of #congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections,” Kishor tweeted shortly after the Congress announced its offer. “In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms,” he added, encapsulating his reservations about the party that he has aired from time to time.
Congress spokesman and senior party leader Randeep Surjewala also confirmed that Kishor has turned down the offer to join the party. “Following a presentation & discussions with Sh. Prashant Kishor, Congress President has constituted a Empowered Action Group 2024 & invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts & suggestion given to party,” Surjewala tweeted.
Kishor had made a second outreach to the Congress after his talks with the party fell through last year. Over the last month, he had a series of meetings with party chief Sonia Gandhi and made detailed presentations about his “Mission 2024”. These were followed by a string of internal meetings between Mrs Gandhi and the party’s top leaders.
There was substantial resistance from a section of leaders on Kishor’s joining — not just on ideological grounds but also over his links to political rivals like Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and more particularly after his I-PAC organisation signed a pact with the Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to help his party in the coming state Assembly elections.
Some members of Mrs Gandhi’s special team — including Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh — were among the naysayers, with deep reservations about allowing a free hand to a newcomer. On Tuesday, the Congress sources also indicated a trust deficit on both sides, saying Kishor did not appear wholly on board during Friday’s meeting with Sonia Gandhi and the eight-member special team she constituted to discuss the issue. This, they said, was also read as a mark of inconsistency, especially in view of the fact that he had approached the Congress with the rejuvenation plan.
At the meeting, Kishor was offered a slot in the “Empowered Action Group”, formulated to address the “political challenges” ahead of the 2024 national elections. A day later, he was in Telangana closeted with Rao with whom IPAC signed a deal. Kishor, however, now has no formal links with IPAC, the organisation he once founded.
Sources indicated that the given the Congress’s entrenched way of functioning, Kishor’s big bang changes did not go down well with many in the party. Kishor’s plans for the party’s rejuvenation apparently included a leadership revamp, under which all but mass leaders would be sidelined. That would include most leaders in key teams, including the Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body.
The election strategist was also seen as unpredictable, which added to the discomfort of the Congress old-timers. Those in favour of his entry – Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Ambika Soni – apparently failed to carry the day. Rahul Gandhi, sources said, was reluctant. The party, though, has acknowledged the need for a through change in the wake of the exponential defeats since 2014 – the matter was mentioned even in the report of the special committee.
In the recently concluded assembly elections in five states, the party has managed to win only 55 of the 690 seats. It lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party and failed to wrest power from the BJP in Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur — states where it had a strong presence even in 2017. For 2024, the party is expected to formulate strategy at a three-day conclave in Rajasthan’s Udaipur next month.
Ahead of the announcement, the Congress was widely expected to decide whether it will accept Kishor’s proposal to revamp the grand old party ahead of the 2024 elections. The poll strategist had at least three meetings with the Congress leadership in recent weeks, during which he had given detailed presentations on his plan to rejuvenate the party reeling under a series of poll debacles over the past few years.
Top leaders of the party discussed the pros and cons of roping in Kishor and what role he can be given if he is taken on board, sources said. The committee, however, remained divided on bringing him on board. Kishor was keen to join the Congress and had desired to do so without any expectations. He had also made a presentation to the party on which its top leaders deliberated upon during the last week. Kishor had been engaged by Mamata Banerjee’s TMC in West Bengal as well as Nitish Kumar’s JD-U in Bihar for election management in the recent past.