Congress President Sonia Gandhi had called this meeting at her residence. According to sources, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Ambika Soni, Digvijay Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ajay Maken and KC Venugopal were also present in the meeting with Prashant Kishor. This meeting is also important because there are assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh this year.
After a crushing defeat in five states, Congress is resuming talks with Prashant Kishor. The results of the five-state assembly elections were a setback for the Congress as it wanted to further strengthen its prospects for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. A good performance was expected from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress to mitigate the challenge but it did not happen.
Amid speculations that Prashant Kishor would join the Congress, a senior party leader said that PK (Prashant Kishor) can be seen playing the role of an advisor instead of joining the Congress. The talks between Prashant Kishor and the Gandhi family had broken down after Mamata Banerjee’s victory in the state assembly elections in West Bengal. Prior to this, Prashant Kishor has worked with the Congress for the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. He was credited with helping the Congress and Captain Amarinder Singh win 77 of the 117 seats in the 2017 Punjab election.
In September last year also, there was a series of meetings between the top leadership of Congress and PK. There was talk at that time that PK could be brought to a senior position in the party. Then many senior Congressmen were against PK. It was made clear to Sonia Gandhi that as a strategist, she is acceptable to PK, but giving the top position would not be right. G-23 leaders were also against the inclusion of PK in the party.
Reports of differences with Prashant Kishor’s Mamata Banerjee’s party TMC had surfaced last month. There was a heated discussion between the two as well. In the assembly elections of West Bengal last year, Prashant Kishor’s IPAC had prepared the election strategy of CM Mamta’s party. However, later the big leaders of TMC made rhetoric against IPAC. Due to which the relationship between Prashant Kishor and TMC was seen as a tussle. Now once again PK’s meeting with Congress leaders has intensified the discussion about him in the political corridors.
Source: navbharattimes.indiatimes.com
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