Prashant Kishor’s former associate joins Congress’ state polls team

Election strategist Prashant Kishor’s former associate, Sunil Kanugolu, will plan Congress party’s state election campaigns starting 2023.

Kanugolu, who was with Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC during Narendra Modi’s 2014 prime ministerial campaign, may also lead the grand old party’s campaign 2024 national election but no announcement has been made in this regard so far.

Kanugolu’s mentor Prashant Kishor had unsuccessfully negotiated with the Gandhis for the role immediately after the success of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, a campaign he headed successfully. PK had been reportedly offered a full-time membership of Congress and a strategic role in party’s decision-making panel, but things did not work out between PK and Rahul Gandhi and the deal fizzled out.

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Besides working with Prashant Kishor (PK), Kanugolu has independently worked in the past for BJP, DMK, AIADMK and Akali Dal. He was with the BJP till 2017 then worked for DMK, helping the party put up a spectacular show in the 2019 general election. After 2019, Kanugolu switched from the DMK to AIADMK.

A senior Congress leader said the party expects Kanugolu to help not just with data but in developing a system to fix the issues. For now Kanugolu will head Congress’ Karnataka and Telangana assembly election campaigns.