Political strategist Prashant Kishor wants to join the Congress without any preconditions, the party’s General Secretary Tariq Anwar said on Thursday, reported PTI.
“He feels that Congress is a national party that can counter the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party],” Anwar told the news agency in an interview. “He has realised that and he is a good analyst. Certainly, his joining would help the party if the Congress inducts him.”
Since April 16, when Kishor gave a presentation on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to the top leaders of the Congress, he has held multiple meetings with them. Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal had said on April 16, that the party leaders will take a decision on whether Kishor would join the Congress.
On Thursday, Anwar said that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has sought the opinion of senior leaders on whether Kishor’s entry into the party would be beneficial.
“No one makes a decision [in the Congress] alone,” he said. “The Congress president is supreme but the party chief takes into confidence senior leaders.”
Anwar said that Kishor has quit as a consultant and wanted to join the Congress and use his experience for the party.
“Prashant Kishor is a brand and he has proven that whichever party he has worked for since 2014, that party has been successful,” he said. “The only exception is Uttar Pradesh.”
Kishor is expected to hold another meeting with Congress leaders on Friday to discuss the matter of him joining the party, ANI reported on Thursday evening.
Kishor, who shot to fame after running a successful campaign for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, has had stints with many political parties. He was also the political strategist for the Congress-Samajwadi Alliance for 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, which the coalition had lost.
His political consultancy firm, I-PAC, was believed to be instrumental in the state election victories of the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh, the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu.
In the past too, there have been speculations of Kishor collaborating with the Congress, but nothing materialised. In an apparent jibe at Rahul Gandhi, he had said in December that Congress’ leadership was not the “divine right” of an individual. However, he had added that the “idea and space” that Congress represented was vital for a strong Opposition.
Soon after the Assembly election results were announced for five states last month, he had said that parties like the Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party would not be able to become national parties easily.
The Congress had managed to win only 55 of the 690 seats in the five states. It lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party and failed to wrest power from the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
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