Chintan Shivir ‘Failed To Achieve Anything Meaningful’: Prashant Kishor Predicts ‘Electoral Rout’ For Congress In Gujarat, Himachal
The poll strategist's remarks come just days after he declined the offer to join the Congress.
New Delhi: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Friday said the Congress’ brainstorming session ‘Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir’ in Rajasthan’s Udaipur city “failed to achieve anything meaningful other than prolonging the status-quo” and predicted an “electoral rout” for the grand old party in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in the upcoming assembly elections. “I’ve been repeatedly asked to comment on the outcome of UdaipurChintanShivir In my view, it failed to achieve anything meaningful other than prolonging the status-quo and giving some time to the Congress leadership, at least till the impending electoral rout in Gujarat and HP!” he tweeted.
The poll strategist's remarks come just days after he declined the offer to join the Congress.
“I declined the generous offer of congress to join the party as part of the EAG & 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,” he tweeted last month.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi had earlier this month announced forming an advisory group from among the CWC members which would meet regularly to discuss political matters.
“I have also decided to have an advisory group drawn from the CWC (Congress Working Committee) that would meet regularly under my chairpersonship to discuss and deliberate upon political issues and challenges before our party. Of course, we do have the CWC that meets from time to time and that will continue,” she said in her concluding remarks at the party’s ‘Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir’, PTI reported.
Gandhi, however, emphasized that it was “not a collective decision-making body” and would help her get the benefits of vast experience of the party’s senior colleagues.
The Congress president also announced that a compact task force would be set up to drive the process of essential internal reforms.
Gandhi said these reforms will cover all aspects of the organisation, including structure, rules for appointments to party posts, communications and publicity, outreach, finances and election management, with a focus on the 2024 general elections.
She added that the task force’s composition would be notified in the next two to three days.
“I feel it has been a very useful and productive ‘shivir’. So many of you have had an opportunity to express your views and offer your suggestions in a spirit of constructive participation,” said Gandhi, according to the news agency.
“I have received a summary of discussions in each of the six groups. They will inform our party positions, policies and programmes,” she added.
The Congress president said they will also be of value to prepare manifestos for the state and national elections.
“I want to make a special mention of the report of the organisational group since it is the most immediately relevant. Some of its ideas have formed part of the ‘Udaipur Nav Sankalp Declaration’ that has just been adopted,” said Gandhi.
Assuring the group’s detailed recommendations will be “acted upon expeditiously”, she added: “We will undoubtedly leave re-energised with a refreshed spirit of collective purpose.”
Gandhi also used the occasion to highlight some specific announcements and said the Congress will launch a ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (Unite India March) from Kanyakumari to Kashmir beginning on Gandhi Jayanti this year.
“All of us will participate in it. The yatra is to strengthen the bonds of social harmony that are under stress, to preserve the foundational values of our Constitution that are under assault and to highlight the day-to-day concerns of crores of our people,” she said.
The Congress president further said the phase two of the district-level ‘Jan Jagran Abhiyan’, which had been launched earlier will resume on June 15.
Gandhi said this extensive campaign will highlight economic issues, especially the growing unemployment and intolerable price rise that are destroying livelihoods.
Top Headlines
