Election consultant Prashant Kishor could be engaged by Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat despite serious misgivings in the Congress.
Though the nature of his engagement with the Congress has not yet been finalised, leaders from Gujarat privately concede that discussions on Prashant Kishor took place and he might be involved in election work.
“Yes, we were asked by Rahul Gandhi whether the state unit will be comfortable. There is opposition and doubts about his politics but he still is in the reckoning,” a senior leader told The Telegraph.
Another Gujarat leader said: “How can we defy the decision openly but there will be resistance. Majority of leaders both at the state level and in the high command structure nurture misgivings about him. There is not only opposition to his style of functioning, there is trust deficit as well. We cannot forget that Nitish Kumar publicly said Kishor was inducted into JDU on Amit Shah’s advice.”
A Rahul aide disclosed: “Negotiations were held with Kishor in several rounds. There were several proposals, including his joining the party. But he wanted more than being offered by Rahul Gandhi. He dreamt of becoming another Ahmed Patel. He fancied his chances as number two, second only to the Gandhi family.”
Sources said this was not acceptable to the top leadership and Rahul wanted him to work in the capacity of a professional or a party member handling specific assignments.
Priyanka Gandhi, who was part of the negotiations, said in an interview: “There was an inability to agree on certain issues, which sort of impeded the discussion from moving forward.”
When the negotiations broke down, Kishor publicly attacked Rahul, saying “leadership is not the divine right of an individual”.
This triggered a strong reaction in the Congress.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said: “A professional without ideological commitment is free to advise parties, individuals on how to contest elections but he cannot set the agenda of our politics. The individual being discussed here is pursuing his divine duty to struggle and save Indian democracy from RSS.”
Gourav Vallabh dismissed Kishor as a businessman. He tweeted: “A so-called senior bureaucrat has offered his unconditional apology for being factually incorrect. In the days to come, the so-called overrated political strategist will have to eat his own words. By the way, both of them are working as the proxy of ……(fill in the blanks).”
What was left unstated was an insinuation that Kishor worked for the BJP as did the former CAG Vinod Rai.
Party’s social media head Rohan Gupta tweeted: “BJP’s hidden faces continue to get exposed. First — no opposition without Congress. Then — lobbying for a post in Congress, spurned. Result — back to bootlicking of BJP. Conclusion — one more bhakt’s mask slips.” He had tagged the report in which Kishor said the BJP wasn’t going anywhere and would rule for decades.
What is the most striking feature of these conversations is the suspicion about Kishor’s links with the BJP. Many young and veteran Congress leaders say he was in touch with Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and disapprove Rahul’s willingness to engage with him.
Former AICC secretary Pankaj Sharma, who said his personal view was that Kishor was overrated and untrustworthy, tweeted: “If the Congress wants a guarantee for a slump from 64 to single digit in Gujarat election, consult Pande ji.” The strategist’s full name is Prashant Kishor Pande.
