Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and Prashant Kishor gently announced that he (Prashant Kishore) will not be joining Congress.
Just after Sonia Gandhi decided to constitute an eight-member ‘empowered action group’ for 2024 to address political challenges ahead which they name “Empowered Action Group”, and Congress offered Prashant Kishor a seat on the discussion table, the offer was declined by him.
Prashant Kishor took to Twitter and announced diplomatically, “I declined the generous offer of #congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms.
I declined the generous offer of #congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections.
In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms.
— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) April 26, 2022
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted, “Following a presentation & discussions with Sh. Prashant Kishor, Congress President has constituted an Empowered Action Group 2024 & invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts & suggestion given to the party.”
Following a presentation & discussions with Sh. Prashant Kishor, Congress President has constituted a Empowered Action Group 2024 & invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts & suggestion given to party.
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 26, 2022
Plans Prashant Kishore had Originally Suggested for Congress
Kishor wanted Priyanka Gandhi as Congress president, Rahul Gandhi as Parliamentary party leader, and Sonia Gandhi as United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson, two members of the committee that went into Kishor’s blueprint for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections told ThePrint.
The poll strategist wanted to take charge of the organization and the management of elections, which was acceptable to the Gandhis.
Suspected Reasons Why Prashant Kishor Could have Declined:
Did Prashant Kishore Suddenly Get Cold Feet?
After building up the momentum of joining Congress with everything going public, it seemed rather strange Kishore suddenly opted out. Surely, he would have known what he was into when contemplating joining the Congress, or was it a new turn of events that transpired, did he expect a bigger role than he was offered, or did he just simply suddenly get cold feet?
Lack of FreeHand
According to sources, Congress was reticent to completely give full powers to Prashant Kishor to strategize as he wished and Prashant Kishor in turn was not eager to be restricted. Sources revealed to News18 that Kishor wanted to be given a free hand in the Congress, which he got in Trinamool Congress. However, after a series of internal meetings with Congress, Kishor felt that won’t be possible, sources added.
Sources wanting to be unnamed in Congress revealed that “The difference was on how to execute the revival. PK wanted to be a disruptor. The party wanted incremental changes,” he said.
“While the 45-year-old wanted a free hand to bring in sweeping changes and play the role of a disruptor, the Congress leadership ultimately found itself wary of a complete overhaul, preferring incremental changes instead, sources in the Congress revealed.
The poll strategist declined to join the EAG due to the party leadership’s reluctance to accept the “transformational reforms” he wanted to carry out.
“There was a meeting between Prashant Kishor and the leadership preceding the announcement and the tweets where it was mutually agreed that an agreement could not be reached,” one leader said, requesting not to be named.
Prashant Kishore said, “On my side, I had a bad experience working with them on UP (2017 elections). And hence I was very skeptical. I did not want to get in having my hands tied… the Congress leadership, because of my background, they are not wrong in being skeptical about whether I will be 100 percent loyal to them,” Mr. Kishor had said, adding that he was certain the Congress needs a “revamp” to defeat the BJP.
Was it the Trust Deficit?
According to conspiracy theories against Prashant Kishor where some believed he would topple the Congress government while others felt that in pushing Rahul Gandhi to the backseat as Parliamentary party leader, he was phasing him out. Others were suspicious that Kishore was scheming to become the prime ministerial candidate for 2024. Was it these theories that made Kishore step down because he knew if there was no trust, it would be a neverending battle within, thus how could they fight elections together, without trust?
In a nutshell, there are mixed reactions to Kishore’s stepdown, with most feeling letdown. Take a look at some of the reactions:
Golden Sunrise: “Something doesn’t measure up. You proposed & expressed interest in Congress. Prepared 600 slides to empower congress only to decline the offer to join 🤔🙄
Spare us from all speculation&
Plz elaborate what was your main condition to join the party maybe that is the real solution.”
Something doesn't measure up
You proposed & expressed interest in Congress
Prepared 600 slides to empower congress only to decline the offer to join 🤔🙄Spare us from all speculation&
Plz elaborate what was your main condition to join the party maybe that is the real solution— GoldenSunrise (@Divine2061416) April 26, 2022
Dilip Mandal: You are a very lowly businessman. If the deal was not done then the client itself started cursing publicly. Talking to you is hurtful too. Hey, no deal, then go ahead. Go to someone else. Sell ideas there.
बड़े नीच बिज़नेसमैन हैं आप। डील नहीं हुई तो क्लाइंट को ही पब्लिकली कोसने लगे। आपसे बात करना भी नुक़सानदायक है। अरे, नहीं पटा सौदा तो आगे बढ़िए। किसी और के पास जाइए। वहाँ आइडिया बेचिए।
— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) April 26, 2022
Nitin: “You gave a presentation and failed to click the deal. What’s the big deal?”
You gave a presentation and failed to click the deal. What's the big deal?
— ηᎥ†Ꭵղ (@nkk_123) April 26, 2022
Black Swan: It’s not your loss PK. it’s a collective loss for India waiting desperately to get rid of this tyranny.
Its not your loss PK. it's a collective loss for India waiting desperately to get rid of this tyranny.
— Black Swan (@funandflight) April 26, 2022
