New Delhi: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Saturday made a detailed presentation before Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on how the grand old party should prepare for the 2024 national elections when it hopes to take on the ruling BJP. “Prashant Kishor made a digital presentation before the Congress president and some senior leaders who will now set up a small group of senior leaders to review the presentation and advise her. The party chief will decide the group and will take a final call in the matter,” Congress general secretary in-charge KC Venugopal said.
The meeting convened at a short notice was also attended by former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi besides senior leaders like Digvijay Singh, Ambika Soni and Mallikarjun Kharge. Kishor, who played a key role in the historic third term win of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee last year against the BJP juggernaut, had expressed his desire to join the Congress and help the grand old party work out a strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but the talks did not go forward.
Losing the 2014 and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to the BJP led by PM Narendra Modi, the Congress is desperate to dislodge the saffron party at the Centre in 2024. For that, the Congress has been trying to forge a coalition of like-minded opposition parties but has at times faced resistance from regional parties including TMC and AAP, who think they are more aggressive than the grand old party.
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Recently, during the Goa assembly elections, Congress had blamed both the AAP and TMC for contesting the polls in the coastal state but was in turn blamed by them for being too soft on the BJP. The managers of AAP in Delhi and TMC in West Bengal believe they are more capable of defeating the BJP nationally.
With that thought, Mamata had even suggested a federal front of regional parties minus the Congress but NCP leader Sharad Pawar differed with her. Pawar argued that any such front was not possible without Congress as it was the second-largest party in the country. The regional parties were flexing muscles as the Congress has suffered a series of poll losses since 2014 and at present rules only in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. It recently lost Punjab to the AAP mainly due to infighting.
Yet, Congress thinks that it is the only natural anchor to any national anti-BJP front and must take lead in that direction. Prashant Kishor’s Saturday presentation was the next step in that direction and suggested a host of radical moves though the grand old party will have to figure out how many of the suggestions it can accommodate.
Noting the recent poll defeats in five states, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur were “both shocking and painful”, Sonia told the party MPs that the road ahead for the Congress was more challenging now than ever and unity at all levels in the party was paramount. “Our revival is not just a matter of importance to us alone—it is, in fact, essential for our democracy itself and indeed for our society as well,” she added.
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