Prashant Kishor declines to join Congress

New Delhi: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday declined to join the Congress a day after party president Sonia Gandhi decided to constitute an 'empowered action group' for 2024 to address political challenges ahead.

It is learnt that the Congress wanted Prashant Kishore to work exclusively for the party and wind up his business activities and that too as a member of empowered group with defined responsibility. Even the Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said that they had offered him to become a member of the empowered group. Kishore, it is learnt, wanted a free hand just as TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had done. But he, after a series of meetings, concluded that such a free hand was not possible in the Congress which is deep rooted in structural problems. Even the G-23 group was not in favour of a professional consultant getting absolute free hand. They felt that this would amount to ignoring in-house talent and rank and file.

Last week, Kishore had given a detailed presentation to the Congress top brass at a meeting chaired by Sonia Gandhi on the way forward for 2024 general elections.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal had then said that a decision on Kishor's suggestions, including on whether he will join the party, would be known in a week.