
Sonia to make 'attractive offer' to Prashant Kishor, who is likely to meet non-NDA CMs before joining Congress
India Today
Sonia Gandhi is likely to make an 'attractive offer' to Prashant Kishor, who has had high-level engagements with the Congress president and other senior party leaders in the past few days.
After a series of marathon meetings and feedback from the party leaders, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is likely to invite ace poll strategist Prashant Kishor for a final one-on-one deliberation and make an ‘attractive offer’ to him to join the grand old party.
So far, Kishor has kept his cards close to the chest. On his part, he is likely to bid for more time before accepting the Congress offer. In his scheme of things, Kishor is likely to personally call on many chief ministers such as Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Uddhav Thackeray, K Chandashekar Rao and other regional satraps with whom he has had professional ties.
The idea behind meeting these leaders controlling over 100 Lok Sabha seats is both civil and strategic. Kishor has maintained cordial and functional ties with these leaders and hopes to put them to some good use for 2024 Lok Sabha election, where a broad and tacit understanding among non-BJP, non-NDA parties may prove crucial.
ALSO READ | From the archives: Prashant Kishor’s blueprint for the opposition
In the past few days, Kishor has had high-level engagements with AICC (All India Congress Committee) interim chief Sonia Gandhi and other senior party leaders including Rahul Gandhi (before he left for abroad) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P Chidambaram, Digvijaya Singh, Kamal Nath, Mukul Wasnik, Ajay Maken, Ambika Soni, AK Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel and others.
The focus of the talks in these meetings has been election preparation and organisational revamp. Strange as it may sound, many party leaders, in unison, have asked him to join the Congress “at once”.
However, Kishor seems to be of the view that it would be more prudent to sound out his ’friends and well-wishers' before taking the plunge. Thus, the delay is not over ‘modalities’ or ‘conditionalities’ but on courtesy.
