Full-time manager or a consultant? Sonia discusses PK's role, revival plan with Gehlot, Baghel

Once the review meetings are over, Antony, Kharge and Soni will together advise the Congress chief on the merits and demerits of Kishor’s plan and whether the party should induct the poll manager as a leader or hire him as a consultant. The final word in the matter, however, will come from Sonia Gandhi herself, reports ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri

New Delhi:Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday discussed election manager Prashant Kishor’s plan for revival of the grand old party with Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, chief ministers of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh respectively.

The discussion was part of a series of meetings that Sonia Gandhi has held with senior leaders since April 16, when Kishor first made a detailed presentation on how the Congress should revive itself ahead of the 2024 national elections. Both Gehlot and Baghel are important in the Congress system not only because they lead party governments in the two key Hindi-speaking states, but also because Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh will go to assembly polls in 2023, a year before the national battle.

At present, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are the only two states where the Congress rules on its own. The party shares power in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the committee formed by Congress president has been debating ways to strengthen the organisation and connect with the people better ahead of the coming assembly elections as well as the 2024 national polls. “The committee had called Prashant Kishor to review some of his suggestions given earlier. The panel had urged Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel to share their views today. We hope the committee will complete its deliberations in the next few days and give its recommendations to the Congress president," he said.

Before the meeting at Sonia’s 10 Janpath residence in the national capital began, Gehlot made an important remark that Kishor had become a big brand in the country as he had been earlier associated with PM Modi’s campaign in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, then worked with the JD-U government headed by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and later advised the Congress in the 2017 Punjab assembly polls.

“This is professional work. There are others also like him and we keep in touch with them also. But everybody is talking about Kishor today as he has become a big brand in the country,” Gehlot said. “The opposition can benefit from his experience,” he said. Gehlot’s remarks assumed significance as they came a day after party veteran M Veerappa Moily backed Kishor’s proposed entry into the Congress.

Moily claimed that Sonia Gandhi was keen to induct Kishor and dubbed those opposed to the idea as "anti-reform". Interestingly, Moily was part of the group of senior dissenters (G23) who had written a letter to Sonia in 2020 demanding internal elections for all party posts. Besides PK’s plan, Gehlot also discussed the Congress Chintan Shivir to be held in Rajasthan from May 14-16 where over 700 leaders from across the country will gather to discuss and prepare a future roadmap.

Over the past few days, several senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have spent long hours discussing the revival plan suggested by PK. Others who reviewed the proposals included AK Antony, Ambika Sonia, Mallikarjun Kharge, P Chidambaram, Digvijay Singh, Kamal Nath, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, Mukul Wasnik and KC Venugopal.

Once the review meetings are over, Antony, Kharge and Soni will together advise the Congress chief on the merits and demerits of Kishor’s plan and whether the party should induct the poll manager as a leader or hire him as a consultant. The final word in the matter, however, will come from Sonia Gandhi herself.