Will Prashant Kishor Join The Congress?
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-07-15 07:47:42
About the Author
Political strategist Prashant Kishor met the Gandhis in a meeting that went on for four hours. It was earlier believed that the meeting was about the ensuing Punjab polls and the way forward for the 2024 general elections. But now the buzz is that Kishor might join the Congress.
Readers will remember that after the TMC victory in West Bengal, Kishor had categorically stated that he wanted to leave what he was doing and start something different. Later he had also said that a united Opposition could beat the BJP but the Congress party needed to be included and assigned a prominent role in any such alliance. Kishor later met NCP chief Sharad Pawar a couple of times to lead people to believe that he was trying to play a role in Opposition unity.
It is being reported that Kishor was sounded out by the Gandhis for a bigger role as a party insider rather than a strategist (one report says that he has been given three days' time to make up his mind) after wide ranging discussion on what is being termed as make the Congress move again.
So now, if Kishor joins the Congress, he will have ample opportunity to convince regional satraps (he shares a good rapport with many of them) about the need to make the Congress move. That would be the easier part given the fact that the grand old party has all-India infrastructure and acceptance and that Kishor has worked with many regional leaders and his anti-BJP stand is well known.
But the tougher part will be to convince other leaders in the Congress about his role. Most Congress leaders (especially the G-23) are miffed with the central leadership and now if the Gandhis bring in Kishor to dictate terms to them, they are not likely to listen. Kishor will have to tackle that first.
But the trickiest part would be to convince regional leaders to accept Rahul Gandhi as the face of the Opposition (because the Congress is unlikely to give that up) to take on Narendra Modi. Many regional leaders, especially Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee are not likely to accept the Gandhi scion.
It will be a huge test of Kishor's acumen as a strategist and his convincing powers to get the senior Congress leaders to listen to him and to get regional leaders on board under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi if he joins the Congress.
