The saga of poll strategist Prashant Kishor Pandey (45) with the Congress ended on Tuesday just after 10 days of his latest flirting with the party to offer ideas on how the grand old party can be revived to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
He withdrew from the possibility of joining the Congress after some of its leaders suspected him to be a mole planted by the BJP, for which he had worked in 2014 to bring Narendra Modi to power. His outfit Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) signing a contract with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to help it in the Telangana Assembly elections the next year proved to be his nemesis since he violated Sonia Gandhi’s condition that he should not work with any political party as in the past if he joins the Congress.
Congress chief spokesman and general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala broke the news that PK as he is known was “invited to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility, but he declined. We appreciate his effirts and suggestions given to the party.”
Prashant wanted to parachute into the Congress at the top and deal with the Congress President directly with completely a free hand in the elections, which most leaders disapproved of. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was the first to oppose his direct entry into the party and virtually rule over others instead of becoming a part of the collective leadership.
Immediately after Surjewala’s disclosure, Prashant also tweeted: “I declined the generous offer of Congress to join the party as part of the EAG (Empowered Action Group) and take responsibility for the elections.”
“In my humble opinion, more than me, the party needs leadership and collectie will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms,” he added.
He was offered to join the EAG 2024 announced only on Monday and whose composition is yet to be announced.
