Congress Loses Election Strategist Sunil Kanugolu From Lok Sabha Poll Campaign: Report
A recent report indicated that the Congress’ election strategist, who was instrumental in forming election strategies leading to the party’s victory in Karnataka and Telangana will not be present in its campaign for the imminent Lok Sabha election. The development marks the loss of the second election strategist for Congress as the party lost Prashant Kishor, one of India’s top political strategists, two years ago.
The Congress now lost the second prominent poll strategist, Sunil Kanugolu, according to an NDTV report. He will not be part of the Congress’ election campaign for the 2024 general election. He was there in the party”s “Task Force 2024.” Sunil Kanugolu will now reportedly focus on the Congress party”s Haryana and Maharashtra campaigns.
Though many wondered about the shift of the key election strategist of Congress, a senior party leader opines that the Congress believes that the current development may contribute to long-term advantages to the party as Kanugolu can now focus his work on winning key states from BJP. However, he acknowledged that the election strategist’s absence will be a “slight setback,” to the party.
NDTV, citing the source, reported that the Kanugolu will continue his work in Karnataka with the Congress government as the advisor Chief minister Siddaramaiah with a cabinet rank.
The weak performance of the Congress in year”s Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan elections was allegedly attributed to the absence of the Kanugolu, while the victory in Karnataka and Telangana was recognized as the result of the strategies of the Kanugolu with a free hand.
However, report suggest that during the talks with Kanugolu, two Congress party leaders Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot didn’t agree to the demand of the top election strategist.
At a time when the Congress party is conducting a complicated seat-sharing discussion with its allies in the INDIA bloc, a strategist like Kanugolu with good experience in handling INDIA allies, is being considered an important asset to the party.
