Hyderabad Apr 24 PTI Amid speculation about Prashant Kishor joining the Congress the election strategist held talks with ruling TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao here over two days There has been no official word from TRS on Kishors discussions with Rao but party sources said Kishor who met Rao on Saturday continued the talks on Sunday as well While the contemporary political situation in the country was discussed in the talks Kishor is understood to have submitted the details of the surveys done by his team in Telangana Kishors meeting with Rao assumes significance in view of the speculation over the political strategist joining the Congress Rao who is popularly known as KCR said in March that Kishor is working with him on bringing a parivartan change in the entire country Both were working together in Telangana also Rao had described Kishor as his best friend for the last seven-eight years and praised the latter for his commitment to a cause Rao has been working to bring together various non-BJP parties together against the saffron partys alleged anti-people policies and to usher in a qualitative change in the country Describing Kishor as a brand with proven credentials Congress general secretary Tariq Anwar on Thursday last said the poll strategist is willing to join the party without any preconditions and his induction would certainly help the party Congress president Sonia Gandhi Anwar had said wants to take senior leaders into confidence and seek their opinion on whether Kishors entry into the party will be beneficial or not and then take a decision on the much speculated matter Kishor who has planned the electoral strategies of various parties including the Trinamool Congress AAP and DMK wants to come into the Congress and help it Anwar had said PTI SJR SA SA

New Delhi Apr 22 PTI Amid a series of deliberations over a strategy for upcoming general and assembly elections by poll strategist Prashant Kishor a group of senior leaders of the Congress has given its recommendations to party president Sonia Gandhi and left it to her to take a call on them and initiate organisational changesSources said the panel of eight leaders formed by the Congress president have discussed at length Kishors strategy plan and deliberated with several senior leaders while giving their suggestions to Gandhi and taking it forward in order to revive the grand old partySome leaders of the party would meet again on Monday for holding further deliberations on the partys revival and strategy plan even as Gandhi held discussions with the Congress president on Friday sources addOn Kishors entry into the Congress fold though some senior leaders had reservations keeping in view his involvement with a number of political parties including the BJP JDU TMC and Congress in the past a majority of them have favoured it but left it to the Congress president to take a final callSome senior leaders like Digivijaya Singh have said that Kishor has come out with a concrete strategy plan and the committee has discussed it further and said it would help the partySingh along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Ambika Soni K C Venugopal Mukul Wasnik Jairam Ramesh P Chidambaram and Randeep Surjewala are among those in the panel formed by Sonia Gandhi who sat for several hours and held many rounds of deliberations during this week They have also met many senior Congress leaders and Kishor during these deliberationsSources said Kishor had earlier met some leaders of the G-23 in the Congress when he had also met some opposition leaders including Sharad Pawar suggesting that in order to oust Narendra Modi the opposition should contest polls unitedly He had asserted that for this the Congress has to be strengthened by handing over the party to a non-Gandhi they saidKishor in his strategy plan for 2024 Lok Sabha elections and other state elections in several states has suggested a number of measures including the poll strategy plan structural and organisational changes in the party and on alliances with other partiesAn 85-page power point presentation by Kishor was also doing the rounds on social media in which he recommended a non-Gandhi leadership for the Congress party that would have high impact in electionsHe has also suggested in this presentation the reincarnation of the Congress preserving its soul and creating a new body as the need of the hour Kishor also noted that without a strong Congress there cannot be a functional UPA and hence the leadership should focus to rebuild the partyHe further suggested in this old presentation that the Congress should leverage the role and capacity of the UPA chairperson position to consolidate its support with erstwhile Congress leaders who have substantial electoral base and grassroots presence in key regions while continuing with AICC presidentship to keep the Congress together but have a non-Gandhi as working president or vice president of the party to work effectively on the groundKishor also wants formation of a parliamentary board the sources saidThey said in the presentation which is termed as fake or old by the party Kishor has suggested several measures including taking five strategic decisions of fixing leadership issue solving alliance issues reclaiming partys founding tenets creating an army of grassroots leaders and workers and an ecosystem of supportive media and digital propagationKishor has also suggested that the Congress party should focus on 365-370 Lok Sabha seats in 2024 elections and should contest alone in assembly polls in states where it is either first or second the sources said adding that he has also suggested a fresh start for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh Odisha and BiharThe G-23 has remained silent so far on Kishor and have not aired their views on him or his strategy plan PTI SKC ZMN

New Delhi Apr 19 PTI Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was very keen to involve Prashant Kishor in working out a strategy for the party even about a couple of months ago but the matter was again delayed senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said on Tuesday and advocated that the poll strategist be inducted into the party nowThe former Union minister said it is quite heartening to see that Gandhi has taken up the initiative to involve Kishor to come out with a strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections the partys revival plan and the strategy for the assembly elections in Gujarat Himachal Pradesh Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh Meghalaya Nagaland Tripura Mizoram Karnataka Chhattisgarh and Telangana in 2022-2023 In an interview with PTI Moily also pitched for a UPA-III claiming that almost all regional parties are geared up to fight against the BJP and feel strongly that the Congress should again emerge as a strong force to bind the nationalistic forcesI was really looking forward for working out a strategy to prepare the Congress party for the upcoming assembly elections in 2023 and the Lok Sabha elections of 2024 In fact she Sonia Gandhi was very keen to involve Prashant Kishor for working out a strategy for the Congress party about a couple of months back But for some reasons the matter was again delayed Moily saidI had already addressed a letter to the Congress president on April 5 2022 with appropriate strategy to take the agenda of INC forward by taking into confidence other secular forcesparties and also a special note for Karnataka The Congress president has acknowledged the said note he saidMoily said he had met Kishor on March 25 and discussed with him his involvement in the Congress for working out a strategy for assembly elections of 2023 and also the Lok Sabha polls in 2024Noting that the news about involvement of Kishor resurfaced again last Saturday he said it came as a long-awaited validation for him personally and also to the rank and file of the partyI am quite excited that the Saturday meeting has been followed up seriously the former Union minister saidMoily said he has earlier recommended to Gandhi that Kishor be inducted into the partyHe had also voiced strong support last September for Kishors induction into the Congress and said those opposing his entry into the party were anti-reformKishor on Saturday had given a detailed presentation to the Congress top brass at a meeting chaired by Gandhi on the way forward for 2024 general elections while expressing readiness to join the partyKishor who has held several rounds of meetings with the top Congress leadership is also learnt to have made suggestions on the upcoming assembly electionsTalking about his work in bringing about reforms within the party Moily said I had the task of presenting the report of The Group to Look into Future Challenges in 2008 And I had given the first report to the Congress President I am proud to say that Sonia Gandhi was quite keen on restructuring the Congress party from bottom to the top The presentation was followed up by two or three meetings of leaders for implementation It was however delayed not because of Sonia Gandhi but due to other factors Delay in refurbishing the party has cost the Congress and the nation he argued The Congress president again reminded me to send a copy of the said report with updates about four months back and it was duly sent to her by me he saidAsserting that the Congress has a great heritage of leading the freedom movement and providing good governance for almost seven decades Moily said the country is now threatened by autocratic communal and also fissiparous forcesMoily asserted that it is high time for the Congress should lead a national movement again for sustaining the democratic and secular ethos and also vibrant developmentAlmost all regional parties in the country are now geared up to fight against the BJP and its non-federal communal platform All of them feel strongly that INC should again emerge as a strong force to bind the nationalistic forces just as in the case of UPA I and II and it can be UPA III now he saidFederal forces should be empowered in at least 400 Lok Sabha seats in 2024 which is not impossible he saidIt can be done in two segments -- fighting for elections with pre-poll alliance partners and with a post-poll alliance wherever it is feasible he saidMoily argued that the Congress and other regional parties must form a strong force against NDA led by the BJPIt is not too late to work out appropriate strategy for the above the former Karnataka chief minister saidThe strategy should start with the assembly elections and without losing any time he saidThe entire manpower at the disposal of the Congress and non-NDA forces should be energised and empowered for providing a concrete agenda for clean governance a climate free of communalism and sound law and order Moily who was among the 23 leaders who had written to Sonia Gandhi for large-scale organisational reforms had distanced himself from the group G-23His remarks come amid the Congress grappling with repeated election defeats in the last two general elections and many state assembly electionsA section of the party that has been critical of the decision-making process is sceptical about the move to involve Kishor with some leaders even saying that the leadership is now outsourcing its work PTI ASK ZMN

New Delhi Oct 28 PTI The BJP asserted on Thursday that the entire country agrees with poll strategist Prashant Kishors comments that the ruling party will remain at the centre of politics for many decades as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has changed politics and runs the government guided by peoples feedback BJP spokesperson Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore told reporters that Kishore has not said anything that the country does not know and then took a dig at Rahul Gandhi saying the Congress leader will surely have a different view Gandhi never heard the countrys voice earlier and will not do so now he added In Goa where he is working for the Trinamool Congress Kishore had said that the BJP will remain at the centre of Indian politics and will not go anywhere for the next many decades He also took a swipe at Gandhi for thinking that people will throw away the BJP immediately Modi may win or lose but the BJP will remain at the centre of politics for a long time he had added It is the Modi governments USP Rathore said that it is connected to the grassroots and the feedback it receives guides its policies The youth now have positive view towards politics Rathore said With the TMC working hard to make a foothold in Goa which will go to the assembly polls early next year Rahore said the Congress has become weak in the state and the party of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is trying to gain at its expense The BJP spokesperson also hit out at Gandhi over his veiled swipe at the government over the reported death of three woman farmers after a truck hit them It shows the shallowness of his thoughts He has no solid issue against the government and is busy working to incite people he said Asked about the arrest of some people in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly celebrating Pakistans win in the T-20 cricket match against India Rathore said he will not comment on the actions of a state government but as an ex-serviceman and sportsman he feels strongly about his country He added that people may laud a different team if it plays well with another party spokesperson R P Singh interjecting to say that one can cheer a different team but cannot raise slogans in favour of Pakistan PTI KR SMN

Bengaluru Sep 23 PTI Former Union Minister Veerappa Moily on Thursday welcomed the possible entry of election strategist Prashant Kishor into the Congress saying that he was okay even if he takes an important position Prashant Kishor an election strategist with 99 per cent success rate has volunteered himself to cooperate with us The process of Kishors entry is on Moily told reporters on the sidelines of an event here He dubbed the entry of Kishor and other internal reforms in the party as the resurgence of the Congress To a question whether he will be okay if he takes up a major role in the party Moily said I am perfectly alright I am constantly in touch with him Regarding the sudden change of guard in Punjab Moily said the party handled the situation very well He also hailed Captain Amarinder Singh who stepped down as Chief Minister of Punjab paving way for Charanjit Singh Channi to take the reins of the state PTI GMS SS SS SS