Prashant Kishor declines Sonia Gandhi's offer to join Congress

New Delhi, April 26: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday declined to rejoin the Congress and refused to accept party chief Sonia Gandhi's offer to have a defined role in the organisation. This was announced by Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Twitter. He wrote: “Following a presentation and discussions with Prashant Kishor, Congress president has constituted an Empowered Action Group 2024 and invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts and suggestion given to party.” [caption id="attachment_627075" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Sonia Gandhi[/caption] Also read | I am not a slave of Congress party, but a disciplined worker, says Sunil Jakhar The constitution of the empowered group is not known yet. However, sources said Sonia Gandhi made an offer to Prashant Kishor to come on board as a general secretary. The details of the offer are yet unknown.

Following a presentation & discussions with Sh. Prashant Kishor, Congress President has constituted a Empowered Action Group 2024 & invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts & suggestion given to party. — Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 26, 2022

Prashant Kishor has held several meetings in the last 15 days with the Congress' top leadership and gave a proposal to revamp the party ahead of the 2024 General Election. Kishor had given a detailed presentation with a road map for the 2024 General Election. Sources said Kishor, in his presentation to the Congress leadership, suggested that the 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 the Congress should focus on 370 Lok Sabha constituencies for the 2024 General Election. After the recent poll debacle in five states, the Congress was holding negotiations with Kishor. [caption id="attachment_627074" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Prashant Kishor[/caption] Also read | Congress panel recommends two-year suspension for Sunil Jakhar, KV Thomas for 'indiscipline' Earlier, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot openly praised Prashant Kishor, saying that he is a "brand". Senior Congress leader Veerapa Moily has said that those opposing Kishor's entry to the party are "anti-reformers". Meanwhile, after declining the offer to join the Congress, poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday said that the party needed "leadership and collective will" to fix deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms. Taking to Twitter, Kishor said, "I declined the generous offer of Congress to join the party as part of the Empowered Action Group (EAG) and 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." -PTC News