‘More Than Me, Party Needs…’: Prashant Kishor Declines Offer To Join Congress

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor has declined an offer to join the Congress, party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala announced on Tuesday, 26 April, amid speculations over Kishor’s many meetings with the Congress top brass over the past few days.

Shortly after the announcement from the party leader, Kishor stated that he had turned down the offer from the Congress as the party is in greater need of leadership and collective will to fix deep-rooted structural problems.

“I declined the generous offer of Congress to join the party as part of the EAG and 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,” he wrote on Twitter.

The grand old party, which witnessed massive losses and significant dwindling in its popularity in the recently-held Assembly elections in five states, had proposed that Kishor join its ‘Empowered Action Group,’ which would work on the party’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The EAG was formed by party president Sonia Gandhi after the election strategist presented a detailed roadmap for changes in the Congress and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to the party’s top brass on 16 April.

“Following a presentation and discussions with Shri Prashant Kishor, Congress President has constituted a Empowered Action Group 2024 and invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts and suggestion given to party,” Surjewala said in a tweet.

Kishor’s rejection of the Congress’s proposal comes after a series of meetings with party president Sonia Gandhi and senior leaders in Delhi, during which a committee was formed by Gandhi to evaluate the strategist’s plan and submit a report.

Last year, Kishor and the Gandhis held several rounds of talks on building a consolidated front for the 2024 national election. Discussions on the poll strategist joining the party had also been held, but collapsed due to some disagreements between the two sides, Priyanka Gandhi indicated in January this year.