Non-Gandhi party chief among Prashant Kishor’s 'reincarnation' plan for Cong

While a series of meetings of political strategist Prashant Kishor with the Gandhis, have amplified speculations about his imminent induction into the Congress, power point presentations made by the I-PAC founder show that he had suggested a “reincarnation plan” for the party with key changes including a non-Gandhi working president to help in its revival ahead of the 2024 General Elections.

Reports said, Kishor during one of his meetings with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, made five strategic suggestions for the revival of the party in a power point presentation.

Among the suggestions are fixing the leadership issue and reclaiming the party’s founding tenets. The other proposals include solving the issue of alliances, strengthening the party at grassroots through cadres, and creating better media and social media reach, The Hindu reported.

Reports said that, Kishor over the past many months, has made a slew of presentations, running into almost 88 slides, before the Congress leaders.

The presentation has been reportedly sent to senior Congress leaders for the feedback and opinion on Kishor’s induction into the party.

NDTV, which has accessed the presentation, says it lists out reasons for the Congress’ decline from 1984 to 2019 while outlining a plan for the party to win the 2024 General Elections.

Pointing out that the party has failed to reap from its legacy and achievements and suffers from structural weakness while also lacking connect with people, Kishor has proposed a “democratisation” of the Congress for its revival.

Also read: All eyes on Prashant Kishor – will he broker a TRS-Congress alliance?

To achieve the same, the Congress needs to have a non-Gandhi working president or vice president, with Sonia Gandhi as the president and Rahul Gandhi as the Parliamentary Board Chief, Kishore has suggested.

According to The Hindu, while Kishore’s presentation pointed out that a non-Gandhi as president and Sonia Gandhi as the head of the Congress-led alliance would have made a high impact, the proposition, however, is highly unviable.

Another slide suggested that Rahul Gandhi be made the leader of the Parliamentary party with a shadow cabinet to allow “collective credibility”.

The Congress says that the recommendations are from a year ago when Kishor was in talks with the Gandhis, but the alliance fizzled out later.

Fresh talks between the poll strategist and the beleaguered party began in February-March this year after its defeat in assembly elections to five key states.

While Kishor has already held two rounds of talks with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the decision of his joining the Congress is expected to be finalized soon.