From consultant to Congressman

Sunil Kanugolu may have assisted the Congress with the winning strategy in Telangana, but to win the Lok Sabha elections, the party will need more than just his expertise

For the Congress, winning Telangana was easy. The hard part starts now. First the election past. Above and beyond all the analysis, one or two factors that contributed to the electoral victory need to be noted. Y S Sharmila, who launched her version of the YSR Congress in Telangana, did not/was not allowed to merge her party into the Congress largely because of strong pushback from Revanth Reddy, now chief minister. Mr Reddy took this stance, in part, on the advice of the behind-the-scenes strategist, Sunil Kanugolu, who told him Ms Sharmila’s claims to seats would only hobble his chances