From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday put in limbo the imminent induction of poll strategist Prashant Kishor Pandey (45) in the party for violating the condition she had slapped on him not to work for any party once he joins the Congress.
She was apparently irked by Prashant, popularly known as PK, travelling to Hyderabad for finalising a deal with Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao before of his Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) signed a contract on Sunday with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the Telangana Assembly elections the next year despite the fact that the Congress is its main rival party and Prashant had agreed to work for the Congress in all Assembly elections leading to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala refused to comment on the Telangana development or say anything on PK’s entry in the Congress, while addressing a Press conference on a meeting Sonia Gandhi held at her residence with an 8-member group she had set up last week to study a presentation by Prashant on April 16 and which gave its report to her on Thursday.
Sonia Gandhi talked to the group, which includes Surjewala, besides some seniors like A K Antony. Surjewala said she has decided to set up an empowerment group, 2024 and its members would be finalised in some days.
He also announced a 3-day “Navchetan Chintan Shivir” on May 13-14-15 at Udaipur to introspect how to strengthen the party and face the poll challenges, including the upcoming Assembly elections. The strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will also be decided in this “Shivir” to be attended by over 400 party leaders, Surjewala added.
He refused to answer questions on Prashant, noting that the decision on him is to be taken by Sonia Gandhi and he is not empowered to decide on her behalf.
