Prashant Kishor won't join Congress, says party needs leadership

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday declined the Congress offer to join the party and evolve its poll strategy and said more than him, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms.

Kishor was asked by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to join the party and be a part of the Empowered Action Group-2024 and take care of its election strategy for upcoming polls.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Kishor has declined the offer and the party appreciates his efforts and suggestions.

Kishor had made a detailed presentation before top Congress leaders, which was discussed at length by senior leadership of the party, after which an offer was made to him.

Within a few minutes of the Congress saying that Kishor has declined the offer, he took to Twitter and said the party needs a collective will to fix deep-rooted structural problems through reforms.

"I declined the generous offer of Congress to join the party as part of the EAG and take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms," Kishor said in a tweet.

Kishor was keen to join the Congress and had desired to do so without any expectations. He had also made a presentation to the party on which its top leaders deliberated upon during the last week.

"Following a presentation and discussions with Prashant Kishor, the Congress president constituted the Empowered Action Group-2024 and invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts and suggestions given to the party," Surjewala said on Twitter announcing that Kishor has declined the offer.

Sources said the reason for his not joining the Congress was the pact signed by his company I-PAC with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for the Telangana assembly elections and that was viewed by the Congress leadership as conflict of interest.

Kishor has been engaged by Mamata Banerjee's TMC in West Bengal as well as Nitish Kumar's JD-U in Bihar for election management.