Table of Contents
What is the PK Plan to revive Congress?
- After Mamata Banerjee swept Bengal, PK said was giving up his day job as an election strategist.
- Reliable sources say that “PK” as he is known has been given three days by the Gandhis, who are at the core of the Congress, to decide on whether he will join the party not as an advisor but as a top-rung official.
PK met Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and for four hours
- To Early to Say this: Congress
- Previous Wins
- Kishor, was instrumental in the thumping victory of the Trinamool Congress in the West Bengal Assembly polls; Stalin’s victory, Nitish Kumar etc.
- PK was enrolled by Amarinder Singh in 2017 to help him win Punjab; he has cabinet status there.
- In earlier interviews, he has acknowledged that the Congress High Command’s indecisiveness, as well as a scattershot approach which has seeped into all aspects of its functioning, has been tough to work with – he said this in the context of Uttar Pradesh, where he worked with Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi in the last election who allied to ward off the BJP from taking charge of the state.
- authoritative sources have pointed out that PK is rather excited by the prospect of trying to regenerate the Congress – in interviews after the Bengal election, he was categorical that a serious Opposition effort to take on the BJP in the next general election cannot be expected to make any mark unless the Congress, as a national party, is central to the scheme.
- It is not as if PK has not traversed from background advisor to active politician before.
- In Bihar, he was given cabinet minister-status by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar but that affiliation went up in flames when he was expelled from Nitish Kumar’s party over a series of differences including the Chief Minister’s growing dependence on the BJP as his ally.
The PK Plan is the solution?
- Sources say “The PK Plan” to reanimate the Congress has already been submitted by the strategist to the Gandhis.
- He wants to set up a nine-person brains trust with members including Raghuram Rajan, the former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and industrialist Rajiv Bajaj.
- Rahul Gandhi’s question-answer sessions conducted on social media with some of these thought leaders and experts were a dry run of this PK Plan.
- The Make Congress Move Again agenda also prioritizes internal elections from the block-level upwards.
- With the centre dispatching investigative agencies against a series of political announcements.
- PK also wants the Congress to make a formal announcement that it will only take campaign donations by cheque.
- He has reportedly made it clear to his prospective bosses that while he will be available as their sounding board,
- he will ensure that the party is aware of and in sync with their strategy on key issues.
- But as a member of the party, PK will have to follow hierarchy – at least for public consumption – to ensure that the Congress’ different leaders including those in G-23 do not feel bruised by his powerful role.
- PK has so far underperformed on this front in different states where his direct line to the party leader resulted in serious fissures and revolts.
- PK has made it clear that he believes that the BJP can be taken down if the Opposition unites and works with far more team spirit than it has in the past.
- The gambit that he is considering will require him to work with a constellation of regional leaders, many of whom he has handled through earlier assignations.
- The discussions at Kishor’s meeting with the Gandhi family were reportedly not about the Punjab and UP polls or joining the Congress, but a proposal for a broad political front for the presidential polls next year.
- Interestingly, Kishor is not just on friendly terms with most of the Opposition but also meets Prime Minister Modi to exchange notes.
- He has an invaluable asset for all political parties, viz computerised data on some 300-odd parliamentary constituencies in eight states.
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