The special committee set up to examine the Congress’ revival plan given by election strategist Prashant Kishor has completed its work and party president Sonia Gandhi will decide his induction into the party, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh said on Friday.
As the party wrapped up its discussions on the Prashant Kishor or PK plan, another of round of meetings at Ms. Gandhi’s residence is said to have taken place that was attended by general secretaries, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and K.C. Venugopal.
“The committee has gone through his [Kishor] proposals in detail and submitted its report to the Congress president. Now, she will finally decide on his induction into the party,” Mr Singh told The Hindu.
On Thursday, The Hindu had reported that once the committee gives its feedback on the effectiveness and implementablility his proposals, M.r Kishor would directly negotiate his role and future in the party with the Gandhis.
Mr Singh refused to elaborate on the contents of the plans, but another member of the committee said Mr Kishor had “given an implementable plan and the party should try out news ideas”.
The special panel includes former Union ministers P. Chidambaram, Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh, Mukul Wasnik, general secretary (Karnataka) Randeep Surjewala apart from Mr. Venugopal and Ms. Vadra.
While the Gandhis are said to be favouring Mr Kishor’s induction into Congress and have resorted to wide ranging consultations, there is also a sense of disquiet among a section of leaders who are resisting ‘parachuting’ of the poll strategist.
A section of Congress leaders have misgivings about the poll strategist’s association with Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) that has worked with regional parties like YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh, Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and Goa, Aam Admi Party in Delhi among others.
“It’s a strange equation. He is neither formally part of I-PAC nor holds any position in the organisation. Yet, they don’t function without him,” said a leader who said there should be clarity on this aspect as and when the poll strategist formally joins the party.
Talking about Mr. Kishor’s association with regional parties, the leader cited above claimed that it can work out to be an advantage, to stitch alliances in States where the Congress doesn’t have a strong presence.
A section of the group of 23 leaders (G-23) — the ginger group pushing for internal reforms — also expressed displeasure at being excluded from the consultation process.
“The irony is that we were the ones who stressed on the need of reforming the organisation. Now, when there are discussions, none has bothered to even inform us about Kishor’s plan,” said a leader of the group.
