Will Prashant Kishor enter Congress to take on Narendra Modi in India?
Prashant Kishor has a formidable reputation as India's topmost political and election strategist Image Credit: PTI  In a huge political development in India, the countrys principal opposition Congress Party has asked Prashant Kishor, 44, top political strategist to join the party and play an active role. The move has the backing of all the three Gandhis  Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka. PK, has he is universally called, has got three days to take a decision, with the Gandhis lobbing the ball firmly in his court. A four-hour long meeting was held in New Delhi with the entire Gandhi family present and Rahul Gandhis trusted aide K C Venugopal (Congress general secretary, organisation) and Harish Rawat (Congress in-charge of Punjab). The presence of all three Gandhis (also known as the Congress High Command) in the meeting is seen as politically highly significant. A transformational agent  PK has been the X factor and transformational agent for many political parties and leaders in India. It all started with Narendra Modi in 2014. After that win, Kishor fell out with Amit Shah and walked out to advise the Congress. While he helped Amarinder Singh win Punjab, PKs campaign for Uttar Pradesh (UP), where the Congress allied with the Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav, was a dud. PK has run campaigns for the nations leading political lights like Mamata Banerjee, who just became West Bengals Chief Minister for the third time, M K Stalin (Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu) and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh) among others. Recently he had several meetings with Sharad Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party supremo), which set off a political buzz. Political circles abuzz  If PK does join Congress, he will bring his unparalleled access to the party for an opposition tie up against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The ace political strategist has that mandate from both  Banerjee and Pawar, two of Indias most astute political leaders. Sources told Gulf News that PK wants organisational changes in the Congress, starting from block level elections. A nine member committee comprising of top domain experts like Raghuram Rajan, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor (currently Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business) will be formed to advise the Congress president. After the Banerjee win in West Bengal, PK had said hes quitting the consultancy space for something that excites him more. An ambitious man, PK had earlier joined the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar and was being talked about as Nitish Kumars heir. However, they later fell out and Kumar sacked him in January 2020. PK will have a lot on his plate if he does say yes to the Congress offer as two big elections  Uttar Pradesh and Punjab  are coming up, where he and Priyanka Gandhi are expected to don the mantle and run the show. The offer has been made. Over to PK.