Renowned election strategist Prashant Kishor reacted on the recently held “chintan shivir” of the grand old party, calling it a “failure”. He even predicted an “impending electoral rout” for the Congress in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections later this year.
The Congress, promising strong and transformational decisions, approved some reforms during the three-day strategy meet in Rajasthan’s Udaipur but steered clear of any dramatic decisions or larger questions like a leadership overhaul and some big changes.
Meanwhile, tweeting his reaction on the “chintan shivir” of the Congress party, Prashant Kishor wrote:
“I’ve been repeatedly asked to comment on the outcome of #UdaipurChintanShivir
In my view, it failed to achieve anything meaningful other than prolonging the status-quo and giving some time to the #Congress leadership, at least till the impending electoral rout in Gujarat and HP!”
A few weeks back, the almost finalized talks between Congress and Prashant Kishor for a collaboration, dropped out for the second time in a year. During those talks, a panel of Congress leaders had discussed Prashant Kishor’s presentation on a rescue plan for the Congress ahead of elections in important states and the 2024 national polls. As per the media reports, PK had given a “more than 600 pages” presentation to the Congress high command, on how to revive the party, keeping in mind the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024. But PK pulled away when he was reportedly asked to work for the Congress as part of an “Empowered Action Group”; such a group, he said, did not have any authority under the party’s constitution and so, would end up adding another layer to the Congress’s internal tussle.
There were predictions that the Udaipur Chintan Shivir of the Congress party would bring some surprising, strong and transformational changes, but nothing like that happened. The proposal for a parliamentary board, a key demand of a rebel group (G-23) within the grand old party, was shot down in the “chintan shivir”. Instead, the party decided to have a political affairs committee in every state and the Centre. The Congress also brought back a “One Family One Ticket” rule. But the rule leaves a loophole for those who have been in active politics for five years, which helps the Gandhi family among others.
Earlier, before the recent assembly elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand, UP, Manipur and Goa, PK had predicted the defeat of the Congress party in all five states, which was hard to believe for the Congress party as it was hoping for better results in atleast Uttarakhand and Goa, but shockingly, Congress failed to win in even one state amongst the five. Now with PK’s prediction of the Cong’s defeat in the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal, once again the party has been challenged to prove PK wrong.
