Anil Anand
Poll strategist Prashant Kishore aka PK has been keeping the Congress top-brass busy, discussing the party revival plan put forth by him with a tagline-2024 Lok Sabha election. After a prolonged behind the curtain parleys the party high command has finally made it a public show.
Over the last fortnight a series of meetings have been held that began with PK making a presentation before a select band of Congress leaders followed by the party president Sonia Gandhi continuing interaction with senior leaders to thrash out a meeting point on how to go about PK and his magic formula or whether he should join the party and play a pivotal role. On his part he is too keen to become a Congressman with an exalted position which expectedly is facing opposition from leadership other than, ostensibly, the Gandhi family.
If the signals emerging from these meetings are an indicator, the PK coming on board seems to be a done deal. Only the nitty-gritty such as whether he will join the Congress or act only as a consultant seemed to be the point of discussion within the organisation.
Why these series of meetings with senior leaders of select variety if the deal seemed to have been done? This is a vital question and a plausible answer would be that the seasoned Mrs Gandhi is trying to develop a majority opinion if not a consensus before stamping the deal. It seems and sounds reasonable but that is not as plausible as it looks.
Yes, the attempt is to create a majority opinion and not consensus as voices of dissent on the PK issue were heard within the meeting though in measured tones. The dissenting voices, it is learnt, have come in different manifestation rather than directly taking on PK and his proposals.
Those having reservations to the glorified poll strategist with strong political ambitions being appointed as the party’s “Ombudasman”, will in all likelihood bow down to the wishes of the Gandhis but not accept this as their fate accompli. The indications to this affect are clearly visible.
There is a growing feeling among the leaders part of the parleys that a decision to involve PK has already been taken at some level and that the discussions are only an exercise to create a facade of combined decision-making and shared responsibility. Understandably, such an exercise is normally undertaken by political parties or the aides of the top political leaders to protect them from criticism in the event of the plan failing.
However, in the current PK episode vis-a-vis the Congress leadership none seems to be enthused to overwhelmingly support the proposal except a few. The reports suggest that there are those who for strategic reasons are tacitly supporting the move through muted approval, those who are openly going with PK doctrine and those indirectly questioning PK on certain points such as his claim on not vying for any position in the party and only wishing to help revive the party ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
” PK didn’t you come to me asking me to recommend you to be made the Congress vice-president,” was how veteran Congressman and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Malikarjun Kharge retorted on PK’s assertion that “media reports were portraying as if he wants to become AICC general secretary. But I am not hankering after any party position.”
The unexpected barb from an unassuming old-school political leader did cause PK embarrassment as he tried to speak from a higher moral pedestal with nothing but well-being of Congress in mind.
He had to face similar embarrassment as PK went about counting his achievements as advisor to chief minister of a Congress ruled state that went to polls recently and lost badly. A strong rebuff and counter question from a leader closely associated with poll exercise in that state, left PK running for cover.
What is the magic wand that PK is offering to the Congress? Is the party so convinced that his formula is the sole remedy to cure all ills plaguing it?
Tormented by factional fights at the AICC down to the states level and total lack of decision making of any consequence, the rank and file has been waiting for some big time decisions that could make the organisation shed its inertia. In this context, taking PK on board is not a bad decision though the issue has already been inordinately delayed both at his and at the levels of the Congress high command.
PK is equally to be blamed for this delay as much as the endemic bureaucratic way of decision making of the Congress. Short of courage to take strong and timely decisions, the party was further pushed to scepticism by PK’s adventurism of party hopping- either joining the party (read JD(u)), or getting appointed as election advisor to over half a dozen parties including regional players such as Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, DMK and Telengana Rashtriya Samithi.
The Goa assembly elections became a flash-point after ostensibly on PK’s advice Mrs Banerjee decided to contest in far-off coastal state where it has no presence. The idea behind this misadventure was the quest for a pan-India stature for Ms Banerjee. The result was she not only encouraged desertions from Congress which was hoping to regain power, but also ensured its defeat.
Similarly, his interactions with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo, Mr Arvind Kejriwal in the midst of reports of his offer to Congress also added to the confusion in the AICC corridors. It is a proven fact now that AAP has been growing at the cost of Congress and the party’s Punjab debacle has confirmed it beyond any doubt.
In this backdrop PK getting favourable traction from the Congress high command is bemusing. It is equally bemusing that some of the senior leaders did give vent to their feelings, though in an obtrusive manner by not hurting the high command, but by being amply expressive on this issue. This is unheard of in Congress’s culture where high command reigns supreme whatever the circumstances might be.
Indications are that PK’s proposal envisages firming up the Congress organisation for 2024 general elections. Can that be done without arresting the factional fights engulfing the party from top to bottom? It is still not clear whether he has any clear cut answer to this problem as merely talking of election preparedness without nursing the wounds will be a meaningless exercise.
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