July 17, 2026

The Congress & Prashant Kishor

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-04-26 07:50:08

About the Author

Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

View all posts by this Author

That the Congress party has not been able to take a decision on Prashant Kishor (on whether to admit him and give him an important position to revamp the party or to employ him purely as a strategist) shows that despite the urgent need to start working on an action plan for 2024 (and the state election before that), there are serious differences in the party regarding the way forward. It is clear that although Kishor was invited to make a presentation once more even after the breakdown of the talks last year, the party has still not made up its mind about how to engage him. Although interim president Sonia Gandhi is expected to take the final decision, she will do so only after feedback from senior party members as she would not risk further division in the party on this issue.

There is no doubt that the Congress needs outside help. The internal machinery of the party has completely failed to do the job of reversing its slide since 2014. The same old ideas, however freshly packaged, are not going to work. Since there is a lot of work to be done in revamping the party setup and making it battle ready, anyone who does it needs to start now. There is no time to lose. The delay in taking a decision on Prashant Kishor is typical of the Congress - the party takes too much time in deciding important matters and this works against it. The party has announced the formation of "Empowered Action Group - 2024" on April 26 but it did not specify whether Kishor will be a part of the group and in what capacity.

Reports suggest that some senior leaders are against Kishor being admitted in the party and given an important position to manage affairs. This is also typical of a family-led party which is resistant to change. The family that runs the party is not going to say this - it will use 'loyalists' to raise this issue. There have also been reports that the party is concerned that since Kishor is involved in the campaigns of other parties that oppose the Congress, how the conflict of interest will be resolved. But in that case, isn't it better to induct Kishor in the party and ask him to make a clean break from his other commitments? The Congress needs to take a decision fast.