New Delhi: Prepping for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress top brass, including interim president Sonia Gandhi, held another meeting with poll strategist Prashant Kishor in the capital on Tuesday (April 19). Sources said that Congress leaders, including Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, AK Antony, Ambika Soni and Randeep Surjewala, were also a part of the meeting at Sonia Gandhi`s 10 Janpath residence, say reports. This is the third meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Prashant Kishor in the last four days amid speculation that the poll strategist may join the Congress.
Now, sources say Sonia Gandhi and Prashant Kishor will once again have a meeting tomorrow (April 20) at 11.30 am. Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh may also attend the meeting.
The first meeting took place on April 16 while the second was held on April 18. According to the sources, two more such meetings are scheduled in the coming days. Earlier, Venugopal had said that Kishor had given a detailed presentation with a road map for the 2024 General elections. Answering queries, he said the role of Kishor in the Congress party will be known within a week.
Sources told ANI that Kishor, in his presentation, suggested that Congress should fight alone in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, and it should form alliances in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra to which Rahul Gandhi has agreed. Kishor is learnt to have said that Congress should focus on 370 Lok Sabha constituencies for the 2024 general elections. These meetings are also taking place in the backdrop of Congress` poll preparations for Gujarat and Himachal Assembly elections this year. After the recent poll debacle in five states, Congress is seeking to restart negotiations with Kishor.
The results of five Assembly polls came as a shock to Congress which was hoping to do well to revive its prospects for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and to fend off the emerging challenge from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress to replace it as the fulcrum of anti-BJP politics in the country.
(With ANI inputs)
