Rejig in the Congress party?

If anyone has been adversely affected by the recently held State Assembly elections, it is Prashant Kishor (PK), the poll strategist. His enticing the Trinamool Congress to fight the Goa has miserably failed, contrary to the party’s expectations to become the kingmaker in the state, if not able to form the government, thought the last was a pipedream.

Prashant Kishor’s honeymoon seems to be over with the Trinamool party, which faced a near revolt with a one-man-one-party, which must have been PK’s brainchild. He forgot that, unlike any other party in India, the AITC has one face and one leader, that of Mamata Banerjee. It is only her dictum that prevails. The elders from the party also were confused with his pan India plans for the AITC and laterally inducting rank strangers into the party in high positions.

The win of Yogi must have been a shocker for the pollster, but more demeaning was the dismal performance of the Congress, fought under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi. Suddenly, PK seemed out of favour from the Indian political scenario he had to address. Congress’s inner party rumblings and a clamour for the change in leadership have shaken the Gandhi family as Sonia, in a hurriedly convened meeting, reiterated herself as the working president for some more time before the sham party polls.

Prashant Kishor’s earlier attempts to, shall I call it, infiltrate, complete a full cycle on his political stand. He began campaigning for Modi in 2014 and parted ways with the BJP to shift to JD(U), INC, AAP, YSRCP, DMK and TMC. His earlier stint of aligning with the Congress party in 2017 UP polls resulted in a disaster. But he was successful in 2012 in Gujarat, ensuring a win for the BJP, and winning 2015 for the JD(U) in Bihar, INC in 2017 in Punjab, YSRCP in 2019 in AP, AAP in 2020 in Delhi, TMC and DMK in 2021 in Bengal and Tamil Nadu respectively.

Kishor relies on data provided by his team of 12000 people and on which basis helps the party choose winnable candidates. But he also empties the coffers of the States by making them resort to freebies as he has done in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. His allying with the Congress will undermine his independent position as a poll strategist when the Congress party would be fighting the polls against his former retainers, like the TMC and DMK.

PK is working on the premise of uniting the Congress party and the opposition in a prepoll-alliance against the BJP, which fundamentally seems a workable idea. There may not be just one PM face but many among the opposition vying for the top post, including Mamata Didi, Arvind Kejriwal, MK Stalin, Chandrashekar Rao and of course, the ever-aspiring Rahul Gandhi. Any attempt to create a PM face before the polls could promptly end the chances of any alliance.

Whatever these be, the woes of the Congress party are far deeper, which cannot be cured by Prashant Kishor. The party could have revived with Gandhis stepping aside and letting others rebuild and restore the Grand Old Party’s glory. But, unfortunately, that time also seems to be over.

Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix