The Congress on Saturday formally announced that the nature of election consultant Prashant Kishor’s relationship with the party would become clear within a week, amid clear indications that a long-term association was on the cards.

On Saturday, Prashant Kishor met Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi where senior leaders Ambika Soni, Digvijaya Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge, K.C. Venugopal and Ajay Maken were also present. Sources said Kishor was again asked to join the party and a clearer picture would emerge soon.

General secretary in-charge of organisation Venugopal said after the meeting: “Kishor has given a detailed presentation on the 2024 poll strategy to the Congress chief. The plan presented by him will be looked after by a group set up by the Congress president. The group will submit its report within a week and the final decision will be taken after that.”

Asked if he was joining the party, Venugopal said: “Every detail will be known after a week.”

While the frequent meetings clearly indicate both sides are interested in a meaningful engagement, the cautious exercise also suggests the Congress is not agreeable to Kishor’s terms and wants him to come in his professional capacity. The negotiations had collapsed earlier because the election consultant demanded an overarching political role for himself, prompting some leaders to comment that he fancied himself as another Ahmed Patel.

As there was strong opposition to the top leadership giving Kishor a larger political role, Sonia broad-based the consultations by involving senior leaders for a dispassionate assessment of his plans and worth. Through this exercise, including examination of the presentation made on Saturday, Sonia is clearly sending the message that the consultant will have to accept the organisational hierarchy.

This is a typical Congress way of cutting high profile people down to size. The rigid organisational infrastructure of the Congress creates such complexities that even Rahul had to complain in his resignation letter after the 2019 parliamentary election debacle that he didn’t get cooperation. He wrote at times he felt he was fighting alone. Flamboyant leaders who had big national profiles, such as Kanhaiya Kumar, are slowly learning to adjust to the Congress culture.

Another such young leader, Hardik Patel, is feeling suffocated for the last two years. He burst out a couple of days ago, complaining how he was not allowed to work, saying: “It was like being made to undergo vasectomy operation soon after the marriage.”

Though Hardik has claimed he would continue in the Congress, most senior leaders of the state admit his utility had come down after the death of the Patidar movement. Jignesh Mewani, another high-flying youth, has also been privately complaining against the fetters the Congress puts on individuals.

The recent experience in Punjab, where the mercurial Navjot Singh Sidhu demanded a free hand and ended up creating fratricidal war in the state unit, might have made the central leadership a little wiser. Sources said while Sonia was excessively cautious given the reservations among the party leaders and workers against Kishor, Rahul too isn’t willing to yield beyond a point despite the eagerness to utilise his expertise.

The role that the majority of leaders envisage for Kishor is like the one given to Praveen Chakravarty, for whom the party data analytics department was created. Sources say Kishor may not be willing to join without a political profile, like general secretary in the high command structure.