HomeIndia NewsUncertainty over poll strategist Prashant Kishor's entry into the Congress

Uncertainty over poll strategist Prashant Kishor's entry into the Congress

The party has set up an empowered action group to factor in suggestions made by Prashant Kishor to overhaul the party before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Profile image

By CNBCTV18.com April 26, 2022, 12:28:30 PM IST (Updated)

Uncertainty over poll strategist Prashant Kishor's entry into the Congress
Even as there is no clarity on the induction of Prashant Kishor into the Congress party, yet another panel has been set up by party president Sonia Gandhi to suggest the roadmap for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress party will soon announce the names of the members for the newly-formed empowered action group 2024.


Congress president held a meeting with senior party members, on Monday, at her residence to discuss the party’s eight-member panel report on the proposals made by Prashant Kishor and his possible entry into the Congress.

“Based on the discussions, the Congress president has decided to constitute an 'empowered action group-2024' in order to address the political challenges ahead," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

The Congress’ silence over Prashant Kishor’s entry comes on the backdrop of the news reports that the election consultancy firm I-PAC tied up with Telangana’s TRS government for the coming assembly elections in the state. Kishor, founder of I-PAC, formally dissociated himself from the organisation last year after the assembly elections in West Bengal. However, he is widely known to be privy to I-PAC’s decisions and is recently believed to have spent two days in Hyderabad.

On being asked, on April 25, if this was a conflict of interest for the Congress, Surjewala avoided commenting on the topic, a Hindustan Times report said.

The eight-member committee that evaluated Prashant Kishor’s suggestions comprised Ambika Soni, Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik, KC Venugopal, AK Antony, Digvijaya Singh, Jairam Ramesh and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. At present, the committee is divided on Kishor's entry, NDTV reported, quoting party sources.

While Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Ambika Soni are in favour of him joining the party, Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh are not too eager. Personal views of two others – KC Venugopal and AK Antony –are not known as they had views both for and against his induction, the NDTV report added.

However, the current divide is on whether the party should give Kishor a free hand to start his own set-up and change things within the party. The members are also concerned about the execution of his plan, which may overlap with his interest in other parties, according to sources.

Earlier, Kishor had been a political advisor to West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and YSR Congress chief and Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy. Both the parties are strong rivals of the Congress in the states.

Meanwhile, the Congress party announced that it would conduct a three-day brainstorming session—Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir—from May 13 to May 15 at Udaipur in Rajasthan. The session would be attended by around 400 Congress leaders from across the country, they would analyse the reasons behind the Congress’s defeat in the recent election in five states.

Check out our in-depth Market Coverage, Business News & get real-time Stock Market Updates on CNBC-TV18. Also, Watch our channels CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz and CNBC Bajar Live on-the-go!