If anything, the infatuation of political establishments to seek and take the “help” of election strategist Prashant Kishor exposes the spinelessness of those that lead these entities. Having been in politics for decades, what they are proving in so many words is that they have not grasped the fundamentals of political games and would, like children, require to be spoon-fed. The Congress party was having brainstorming sessions at its top leadership levels to decide how to “make use of” Kishor to win future elections, the main target being a return to power in the 2024 parliamentary polls. The way forward for a party is to strengthen its organizational structure and take on the ruling party and its government at multiple levels to earn the trust of the people, which should in normal course translate into votes. The grand old party’s leaders are not in a mood to do the legwork or hard work to achieve this aim. Instead, the party is sending an SOS to a strategist to come and enable it taste power again. At the same time, the Congress leadership is keen on making sure that Kishor would not take the party away or put it in his pocket. In the event, he would as well decimate the first family and the whole lot of dead-wood that surround it. This possibility is for real.
Admittedly, it is not the Congress party alone that was after Kishor to achieve electoral success or retain power. Nitish Kumar did it, made Kishor the JDU vice president and then threw him out, just as Prime Minister Modi used the budding strategist to help him achieve his PM ambition in 2014 and then asked him out. Kishor went on to side with Mamata Banerjee, but her victory in the 2021 assembly polls was achieved mostly by her own grit and determination. So was the case with Stalin in Tamil Nadu or Jaganmohan Reddy in AP. Last heard was that Kishor was supping with Telangana’s chief minister Chandrashekar Rao to help him win the next assembly polls and use it as the launch-pad for Rao’s ambitions at the national level. Clearly, all those who engage Kishor are unsure of themselves and have loads of money to be given on a platter to ensure they win power. Fact, though, is that all these regional entities were fighting fit already. Not so the Congress today. Down in the dumps, it has to start from scratch. The deadwood around the family has done the greatest disservice to the party.
